Sirius' Girl
by wildpoppies
Summary: James Potter is not the first Marauder Lily Evans befriends. This is the story of how she gets to know Sirius Black and how they face an incredibly difficult year together. (Will be a long story covering Lily's 5th Year. New chapters posted at the weekends.)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Not mine, but I hope you like what I've done with them.

 **Chapter 1**

"You really believe my loyalty can be bought for the price of a few potions ingredients?"

"No, Sev, I don't, but I do think you've put yourself in a dangerous position here. Mulciber is not someone you want to owe a favor to! You know as well as I do that he stole those ingredients-"

"I know no such thing!"

He did, of course. Mulciber's half-hearted cover story, that his last school supply order had "just happened" to contain a very specific assortment of extra potions ingredients, was fooling no one, not least one of the shrewdest wizards of their year. But Severus had a blind spot where James Potter was concerned, and it was James Potter who had put him in his current situation. After an exchange of scuffles lasting the entire first week back, Potter had evidently sneaked into the Potions classroom after hours and added his own ingredient to Severus' cauldron: a no-heat, wet-start firework, rigged to fall into the potion with disastrous effects the next time anyone removed the lid. Predictably, the next one to remove the lid had been Severus, who had received for his troubles a face full of potion, a visit to the hospital wing, and the loss of a week's worth of work. Severus was itching to get back at his nemesis, but first his Potions grade - his best subject, on which all his hopes for NEWTs rested - must be saved.

And so, he had a blind spot.

"Oh, come off it, Sev, where else would he have gotten them?"

"It's none of my affair."

"Don't be so naive."

"Then don't you be so superior! You're right, the way Slughorn adores you, you can probably afford to miss out an entire project and he'll still give you an O at the end of term - but he takes off his rose-tinted glasses when he looks at me, Lily! Those ingredients are my only chance of finishing my project on time in spite of bloody Potter!"

"So the ends justify the means?"

"Yes."

"No!"

"Come on, Lily, I'm just trying to get ahead for once in my life. This is OWL year. These projects matter, Lily! I can't afford to fall behind first week back, just because of you and your rules!" His voice had risen to an uncomfortable volume for the echoey classroom and she bit her lip hesitantly. He'd been having a difficult time lately what with Potter's goading, schoolwork piling up, and pressure from his "friends" building. He'd barely spoken to Lily in public since last Christmas holiday, after which they had arranged to spend every Friday night together, holed up in a small, disused room in the dungeons where no one was likely to come across them - and to generally avoid each other at all other times. In these Friday night meetings remained the last shreds of a friendship that she didn't want to lose. So she did what she did best with him; what she always did with Severus these days. She backed down.

"You're right, I'm sorry I made a thing of it. Shall we go and get some dinner? Marlene says it's treacle tart for afters."

"You know that's not a good idea, Lily. And besides, I'm eating with Mulciber so I can get the ingredients, and then I'm coming back down to set the boomslang skin to simmering before the weekend."

"Right, okay. Then I'll see you around, I suppose."

"Yeah. Oh, and Lily?" She turned, hopeful. "Make sure to take the west side stairs. There's been a leak over there lately, so there shouldn't be anyone to see you."

Silently, she picked up her bag and left.

She didn't go to dinner, but to the library, where she spent the next several hours engrossed in her schoolwork. When the sun had disappeared entirely from the horizon and she could be reasonably sure she wouldn't see anyone in the halls, she returned to Gryffindor Tower and trudged up the stairs to her dormitory. The Dovecote, as the girls called their dorm, was quiet in the dim light. The doves embroidered on the hangings eyed Lily suspiciously as she passed. She had charmed them during their third year to coo charmingly in the mornings in place of alarm clocks, and now they looked on resentfully at anyone who dared disturb their slumber.

Two of her roommates, Mary Macdonald and Dorcas Meadowes, were already inside. Mary lay on her stomach, feet in the air, paging through a copy of _Witch Weekly_. Dorcas, assiduous as ever, was spending her Friday night in a straight-backed chair at a hardwood desk, rewriting a History of Magic essay for the third time.

Lily flopped down on her bed, toeing off her school shoes and wedging her arms under her pillow. Mary looked on with concern. She opened her mouth to speak, but Dorcas was faster. "Hey, Lily?"

"Yeah."

"How's your day been?"

"Peachy."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Bullshit." Mary's eyes widened in a glare which Dorcas roundly ignored.

"Sod off."

"Make me." Whatever reply Lily made was muffled by her pillow. "Hungry, Lily?"

"Maybe."

"Kitchens?"

"Yes, please."

Dorcas stood up, filing away the essay she'd been working on, as Lily rolled rather gracelessly to the floor and began hunting for a pair of slippers. Mary crossed her arms. "I don't think I will ever understand you two."

"Probably not, you're not very clever," Dorcas said matter-of-factly.

"Doe, that was mean," reprimanded Lily.

"Oh. Sorry, Mary."

"It's okay, Doe."

"Don't call me Doe."

Lily rolled her eyes as Mary looked confused. "Okay, clearly it's time to get some food in you, too, Doe. Let's go see what they have left over."

The three girls left the Dovecote and were heading down the stairs to the Common Room when they passed dove number four, sweaty and dirty and clearly exhausted, on her way up.

"Oi, Marlene! Where have you been all night?" asked Dorcas.

"Oi, Dorcas! Where have you been all my life?" grinned an equally sweaty and dirty, but much perkier, Sirius Black from a few stairs below the girls. Dorcas' only response was to raise her middle finger and stick out her tongue, drawing chuckles from the red-and-gold-jersey-clad pair below.

Sirius Black and James Potter. Quite apart from their bad blood with her best friend, Lily had her own reasons for disliking them. The two of them rivalled her and Dorcas for the best marks in their year, but where the girls spent hours in the library revising, Potter and Black were rarely seen to pick up a schoolbook. They skated by, in large part, on charm and the easy confidence of coming from power and old money. Lily would never admit it aloud - although she was pretty sure Dorcas knew, by virtue of feeling the exact same way - but she envied the boys their skills. They got marks as good as hers, were as beloved of the professors as she was - and didn't do a day's work for any of it. It wasn't fair. And now, of course, Potter had been made captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, with Black as his right-hand man and senior Beater. As if their egos had really needed the boost.

"We had a late practice, Dorcas," groaned Marlene. "Captain Potter decided we don't need light to run stairs, so we're spending every Friday night between now and Halloween on conditioning. Kill me now, please."

"Don't give up yet, Mar! If you survive, you'll be in the best shape of your life!" enthused the captain in question.

"That's a pretty big 'if,'" she muttered darkly.

Chuckling, Lily gestured to her two companions. "We were just on our way to the kitchens, Marlene, care to join?"

"I'd love to. Go on without me, I'm just gonna shower first. I feel like I'm wearing the entire pitch right now and it's beginning to itch... I'll be down in half an hour, all right? Save me something good!"

Making faces of mixed disgust and amusement at Marlene's pronouncement, the girls continued down the stairs and across the common room to a tiny, empty alcove that afforded them direct access to the kitchens. Five minutes later, they were seated on high stools in their favorite nook, dinner laid on and plates heaping, drinking the house elves' most colorful experiment in recent memory, a Pumpkin Nebula. It was the first weekend back, still early enough for summer adventures to be the main topic of conversation. Lily had spent two weeks sightseeing in Ireland with her wonderful university professor father and her awful university student sister, before joining up with Marlene to spend August at her family's vacation home in the south of France. Dorcas had spent July with her mother's parents and August with her father's sister, earning her keep by watching her little cousins while her aunt and uncle worked. And Mary had spent most of the summer with her father, a Muggle man who lived with Mary's younger siblings in a quiet flat in Primrose Hill. She had, however, attended Emery Dearborn's famed end-of-summer party two weeks ago, and as a result was overflowing with gossip that carried them through dinner and beyond.

At some point they were joined in the kitchens by the four Marauders. The boys often showed up while the girls were there but were, as far as Lily knew, unaware of their quiet corner nook, cloaked as it was in muffling and concealing charms.

During a natural lull in the conversation, Lily and Dorcas sat listening to the boys at their table in the middle of the room as Mary pulled out a mirror compact and touched up her makeup.

"So your mum was named executor? Even though she's the youngest?" Remus was asking.

"Yeah, which is exactly what Aunt Theodora said. Of course she can't be named heir, so I don't think Uncle Nestor much cares, but Theodora got all upset about 'putting the family money into unsavory hands.' Spent the whole vacation trying to tune out her harping."

"What does an executor even do? I thought the goblins handled dishing out dead people's stuff-" Peter cut off at a glare from Remus, "I mean, I thought the goblins handled the...distribution of the worldly possessions of the...dearly departed… And may I say that I am truly sorry for your loss…" he trailed off sheepishly.

James chuckled. "Don't worry about it, Pete. My granddad's had one foot in the grave ever since Grandmother went, and he was older than the hills anyway. And you're right, the executor position is more symbolic than anything. The goblins do the heavy lifting, the executor just signs off on things like property transfers."

"The thing is," Sirius broke in, "the position goes to the heir by default, so the fact that he named James' mum instead makes it look like he was making some statement. Like he favored her."

"Which he did. Though, I mean, who in their right mind wouldn't favor my mum over Nestor and Theodora? Dead boring, the pair of them."

"Wait, I thought we liked the Dearborns. Don't we like the Dearborns?"

Remus sighed. "Yes, Pete, but no family is all black or all white-"

"Except for us, we're all Black!"

"Your sense of humor never ceases to amaze me, Sirius… Anyway, the Dearborns have some really good eggs, like Caradoc and James' mother, but the rest of the family is pretty neutral."

"Neutral by trade, to be honest. The Dearborns have developed a tendency to produce politicians, and no politician wants a strongly-stated opinion on record when he starts meeting with potential backers. Granddad hated it, said it made the family look weak. Reckon he wanted to stir things up a little at the end."

"So anyway, back to the story, the rest of the Dearborn family gets all up in arms and invites Prongs for a visit," Sirius prompted.

"Right. I was 'invited' to spend two weeks at Theodora's house this summer. Met everyone from the Minister of Magic to the head of the Chinese Delegation for Magical Sports and Games. Everyone was trying to convince me to join the family business. Got out of there the second I could. Really got her goat that she couldn't tempt me, I think, because she went to the Ministry the day I left and tried to get the executorship transferred back to her or Nestor."

"And from the gleeful look on your face I'm guessing that went real well?" chuckled Remus.

"Oh, very well. Not only did they reject her petition, but one of the Ministry blokes tipped her for an audit because of something she said about 'significant international business dealings' made by members of her family. They won't find anything, of course, but it's a hassle for them."

"And an embarrassment," Sirius smirked.

If only Potter and Black were always like this, Lily thought, she probably wouldn't half mind them. Or, she would still be jealous, but she would probably feel rather guilty about it. They had it easy, yes, but that wasn't really their fault. They didn't know how easy they had it, either - as evidenced by Potter's willingness to ridicule his aunt's kind offer of political acquaintances simply because she was "boring." And maybe they did take joy in the idea of others' pain, but it sounded like the audit would go relatively smoothly and, honestly, it was rather funny that this Theodora seemed to have brought it on herself with her own thoughtless words. Potter and Black were teenagers and, as she often had to remind herself, teenagers weren't expected to have their lives together yet. They were arrogant and entitled and _so_ easy to hate, but she wouldn't have hated them, really she wouldn't - if not for one little thing.

"So, lads. Got any plans in the works? It's been a whole summer since our last good prank!"

That would be the thing.

It wasn't that Lily didn't love a good prank. She did. Her pranks were just...different. Kinder. At the end of one of her pranks, people were left laughing, or maybe wondering how the thing had been accomplished. At the end of a Marauder prank, they were left running for Madam Pomfrey. The boys were cruel, bullying jerks. And so, Lily felt no compunctions at all about hating the Marauder ringleaders with all of her might. Nor did she feel any remorse for pulling her wand out and silently charming a thundercloud, complete with pouring rain, into being above their table. And if the appearance of the thundercloud caused the Marauders to yell and dart for the door to the hallway, all the while pursued by an angry rainstorm which was standing up remarkably well to their attempts to extinguish it - well, Lily certainly wouldn't have felt guilty about a thing like that.

"What?" Lily said innocently, turning back toward the table to find both Mary and Dorcas staring at her, eyebrows raised. "Oh, don't tell me you didn't enjoy that. If Marlene were here, she'd be laughing her head off."

"At what? What'd I miss?" The girl in question joined them as if on cue, wet hair dancing around her shoulders.

"Oh, just Miss Lily conjuring up a storm to chase your cousin and his gang back to the Tower. You know, the usual." Dorcas answered.

"I see. And I approve. James does need taking down a peg or two." She grinned and took a seat beside Mary, nodding appreciatively at the plate they had saved her.

"So, Lily," Dorcas began decisively, "now that the gang's all here...what _is_ going on with Snape? I know you and he met up tonight. Mary saw you going down to the dungeons after lessons."

Lily glared at Mary, who had the grace to look a little guilty. "I'm worried about you, Lily! Snape isn't good for you!"

"I already told you, nothing really happened. Just Sev being Sev, again," Lily responded for what felt like the hundredth time.

"I'm not going to stop asking, you know. And if you won't tell me, I'll just find out another way. You shouldn't make things so hard for me when I'm supposed to be your best friend…" Dorcas wheedled.

"Sev is my best friend," Lily corrected.

"'Sev' is a git and a bully, and plus, he doesn't deserve you. And plus plus, every time he upsets you, Marlene has to hex him," stated Mary firmly.

"And Lily, I don't know how many more times Marlene can stand to polish the Quidditch trophies - at least not without winning one," Dorcas added.

"That's okay, I really think we have a chance this year - or at least, if we don't win, the team is going to mutiny and exile James to a deserted island for working us to death for no reason - so, back to the point, I should be able to continue hexing Severus Snape for as long as necessary. Although, Lily, it would really be better for your mental health if it weren't necessary. Just saying."

Lily stared into her Pumpkin Nebula disconsolately. She knew Severus wasn't being a great friend just now, but wasn't it in the job description of a best friend to keep going when things get tough? She couldn't just give up on him, not after so long. She owed it to him to keep going, however hard it might get. He was worth it.

Watching Lily's face fall into a mask of worry and pursing her lips at her friends' insensitivity, Mary interjected, "Hey, Lily, isn't that Ravenclaw couple on prefect duty tonight? The one that snogs all night instead of doing rounds?"

The redhead turned, brightening a little at her friend's words. "Yes, they are. Why? Are you girls up for some fun?"

"Oh, I don't know," Marlene laughed. "What did you have in mind?"


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Shout-out to followers and readers setting out on this journey with me! This is the first fic I have ever posted, so please feel free to review with suggestions - constructive criticism always welcome!

Disclaimer: Not mine, but I hope you enjoy the story!

 **Chapter 2**

 _Watching Lily's face fall into a mask of worry and pursing her lips at her friends' insensitivity, Mary interjected, "Hey, Lily, isn't that Ravenclaw couple on prefect duty tonight? The one that snogs all night instead of doing rounds?"_

 _The redhead turned, brightening a little at her friend's words. "Yes, they are. Why? Are you girls up for some fun?"_

" _Oh, I don't know," Marlene laughed. "What did you have in mind?"_

"They did take down the decorations from the feast yesterday," Lily mused. "Everything's looking a little drab now. What say we do some decorating?"

"Decorating? What is this, the 1950s? I might die of boredom doing that," Marlene said disbelievingly.

"Now, Marlene," Lily teased, "when have you ever known my plans to be boring? That said, I do have a better idea, I'm just not sure if Model Student Meadowes will be up for it…"

"And you're one to talk, Prefect Evans?" Dorcas shot back.

"I have maintained since I got my letter in the summer that my being named prefect means two things: first, that I get good grades; second, that nobody's ever figured out that we're behind half the pranks. Haven't I, Marlene? Didn't I say that, when the letter came?"

"I think you phrased it more like, 'They'll never suspect us now, cackle cackle,' but sure, more or less."

"Yes, exactly. Same thing. Anyway, listen. You remember how we've always talked about getting into the other house common rooms? This is my plan. We decorate the entrances to the Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin common rooms. Then we use charms on the decorations to keep an eye on the entrances and figure out how to get in. Whoever gets into their common room first wins!" Lily explained.

There was a pause as the girls took in her words.

"Okay…" Mary said uncertainly.

"Brilliant!" Marlene exclaimed.

"We're going to spy on the other houses?" Dorcas demanded. "Are you insane?"

"I mean, it sounds terrible when you put it like that, but… yes, yes we are."

"What if we get caught?" Mary asked doubtfully.

"When have we ever gotten caught, Mary? Lily's right, nobody's ever suspected us. That's one thing the Marauders are good for, even if you don't like anything else about them," remarked Marlene with a sideways glance at Lily.

Mary's face cleared as though she had only just remembered the Marauders' existence. "You're right. Okay, I'm in! Dorcas?"

"Nope, I'm out. Too risky."

"Ha, knew it! Lily called it!" Marlene crowed. "Too dangerous for Model Student Meadowes!"

"Shut it," Dorcas glared. "Besides, there are only three other houses. How were you expecting four people to play this one?"

"I thought Mary might want to work with someone, actually," Lily explained, then quickly added, "No offense, Mary."

"None taken. Everyone knows I'm only good at Herbology. I'm not sure what I can do with plants here… But I'm sure I'll think of something," Mary smiled. "At least I'll be good at the decorating part."

"Right, so that's fine. So Mary can work on her own, and I'll be the judge. I've got the perfect stakes."

"What?" Mary asked apprehensively.

"The two losers have to wear Slytherin green for a week."

"Ooh, good one," admired Marlene. "Good thing you look good in green, Lily, 'cause you're going down!"

"Is that so? I seem to remember this one time - or was it actually seven times-"

"Girls, girls," broke in Mary, ever the peacemaker, "Could we perhaps wait to compete until the competition actually starts? And we haven't set the ground rules yet, Dorcas."

"Right. Ground rules." Dorcas ticked them off on her fingers. "Proof is pretty straightforward: Winner is whoever brings me a picture of themselves in their assigned common room first. No asking students in that house, no asking other students in our house. Goes without saying, but no throwing the rest of us under the bus, especially me, because if anyone finds out I'm involved, I'm going to use a permanent sticking charm to stick your hair to the ceiling in the Great Hall."

"Sounds fair," Lily agreed.

"Also, no going back to change your charms," Dorcas continued. "Whatever you do between midnight tonight and midnight tomorrow, that's it. Whatever information you get from your trap, you have to get it from a distance, otherwise you could just stand around trying to eavesdrop, and that would defeat the whole purpose."

"How far away, then?" Marlene asked.

"The hallway, maybe? You can't set foot in the hallway until you're ready to try to get in?" Lily suggested.

"Fine," Dorcas concurred. "Now, who's taking what house?"

"Can I have Hufflepuff?" pleaded Mary. "I'm no good at riddles, and...well, and I don't want to die running away from a Slytherin," she finished sheepishly.

"I'll take Ravenclaw," Marlene smirked.

"Of course you will. That's alright, I don't mind Slytherin." Lily rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Settled then?"

"Settled," chorused the others, picking up their things and preparing to leave.

"Oh, one last thing." They all paused and turned to look at Dorcas. "The soonest you can try to get in is Monday. To keep everybody from overhearing something while setting up tonight and just going straight in."

"Why, Dorcas! You can't imagine anyone would still be entering the common rooms at midnight tonight? What rulebreakers those people would be!" Marlene gasped in mock alarm.

Dorcas' middle finger made its second appearance of the night, and the girls laughed. "Better watch out, Doe," Lily admonished, "or someone might take that the wrong way. We already know Black is interested." Then she ducked, shrieking, as Dorcas attempted to cuff the back of her head.

"With your gracious permission, O my so-called friend, may I continue?" Dorcas inquired sarcastically.

"You may, O violent one."

Dorcas looked like she might try to hit Lily again, but took advantage of her silence instead. "According to my brother, the passwords change every second Sunday by default. So if anybody does overhear the password tonight, it'll be different by Monday."

"But it hasn't been two Sundays since the start of term, it's only been one. Will it change this weekend?" Mary wondered

"Oh," muttered Dorcas, blushing slightly, "you're right, it has only been one. What if we…" she trailed off, clearly stuck for a solution.

"Guys, we're Gryffindors, not Slytherins. Let's just not cheat. Then we don't need any stupid rules." Marlene had one hand on the door to the hallway, eager to get started.

"You're right. But let's say you can't go in until Monday anyway, just to give everyone a chance to get started," Lily compromised.

"Fine. Settled then? Meet at the portrait hole at midnight to get started." The four doves exited the kitchens and split up.

§§§

Lily made straight for her trunk. She'd had this idea the day before, when they had finally finished start-of-year review in Charms and opened _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5_ to page 13, "The Protean Charm."

Mary had gifted her a camera last Christmas, and Marlene had taught her how to develop the film to get a moving picture. She still had two rolls of film, so she would be able to put one into the camera and link it via protean charm to the other, left safely in the Dovecote.

Now she had to figure out how to get the camera to take pictures by itself. She had the first inklings of a plan that involved using _hominem revelio_ to activate the camera whenever someone was nearby. While that plan percolated in her mind, Lily took out two identical pieces of parchment and a quill, and began practicing the protean charm.

There was a lot to do before midnight.

§§§

Marlene strode purposefully to the library. The rules said she couldn't ask other people how to get into the Ravenclaw common room. They didn't say she couldn't check out every book of riddles the library had. (And she'd made sure to break up their little meeting before the rules could be amended to say any such thing.)

An hour later, Marlene levitated a stack of books nearly as tall as she was up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower. Whatever riddle the door asked would surely be somewhere in this collection. She just had to find it.

It was still nearly two hours to midnight. Marlene settled into an armchair by the fire and began to read.

§§§

Mary took Dorcas' arm as they left the kitchens and pulled her in the opposite direction of Lily and Marlene, down the hallway that led to the Hufflepuff dormitories. "Dorcas! Help me!"

"What? No!" Dorcas said indignantly. "I'm not taking any part in this, remember?"

"I know, but I don't have any ideas! I can't use a plant, not if I can't even walk down the Hufflepuff hallway after midnight tomorrow! The whole thing with plants is that they stay where you put them! How am I supposed to see what the plant finds out if I can't reach it?"

"What do you think a plant is going to find out anyway? You know they don't have brains, right?"

The girls came to a halt outside the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room and Mary gave Dorcas a look. Then she turned, indicating a heavy stone planter directly across from the door. "See this planter? I can put the plant here within view of the door. But if I summon it out of the planter from down there" - she pointed to the end of the hallway - "then I won't be able to put it back. I'll only have one chance to get the answer."

"I reckon you only have one chance to get the answer, then," Dorcas answered unsympathetically.

"Dorcas…" Mary wheedled.

"No," Dorcas growled.

"But Dorcas…" Mary tried again, fixing her roommate with puppy-dog eyes.

"Ugh! Fine. Try _infodio_. I imagine Madam Pince could help you find a book on it. I've never used it myself, so I don't know if it will even help. Now leave me alone before I tell Lily you cheated."

"Thanks, Doe! You're a lifesaver!"

"Not a willing one. And don't call me Doe."

§§§

Lily's original plan had fallen through. So had her second, third, and fourth plans. Her protean charm was working fine, but she couldn't find a way to get the camera to take pictures by itself until finally, around half past eleven, she remembered a trick pocket sneakoscope Marlene had given her years ago. The "trick" was that the sneakoscope activated for everyone who went within three feet of it, not just her enemies. After three days of almost non-stop noise from the tiny instrument, Lily had immobilized it, silenced it, wrapped it in a bulky scarf, closed it in a shoebox and shoved it under her bed, never to be heard from again until now.

The contraption she now held did not much resemble anything. Lily had stuck the sneakoscope to the bottom of the camera and had wrapped a ribbon around both of them so that the camera's button would be depressed whenever the sneakoscope moved. Anyone who came within three feet of the camera would have their picture taken and transferred to the extra roll of film in the Dovecote. Hopefully that would give her the information she needed.

The hodgepodge apparatus sitting in the shoebox thrummed slightly even though several layers of silencing charms. _Don't let me down, little hummingbird,_ she thought, then closed the lid tightly over the box and stepped quickly out of the dormitory.

§§§

After a hurried trip out to the greenhouses for soil and seedlings, then up to the Gryffindor common room for the other things she needed, Mary was ready. She parked her overflowing wheelbarrow by the portrait hole and perched on a deep red armchair to wait for the others.

At five minutes to midnight, Marlene descended the stairs and fell into the chair beside her. As far as Mary could tell, she wasn't carrying anything unusual. Mary wondered what her friend had planned. She almost wished she had chosen Ravenclaw - at least then she would have some idea of what to expect. Everyone knew you accessed the Ravenclaw Tower by answering a riddle. None of the Gryffindors she'd ever spoken to had known how to get into Hufflepuff. Then again, knowing and doing were two very different things. Mary reckoned it wouldn't have been any easier for her to answer a riddle than to discover whatever trick it was that the Hufflepuffs used.

A few seconds before midnight, Lily appeared at the bottom of the stairs, carrying a shoebox.

"Everyone ready?" Lily prompted as the clock began to strike twelve. "3...2...1...go!"

§§§

Marlene was not cheating. She was being smart. She would not be in the Ravenclaw hallway anytime after midnight on Saturday. She wasn't even in it now.

She was hovering on her broom just outside a window across from the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. That was entirely within the rules.

After they had left the common room together, Marlene had walked to the castle doors and out into the courtyard, pulled her miniaturized broom from her pocket, returned it to its normal size, and flown to her current position.

She could hear the door's riddle from here without having to actually set foot in the hallway. She'd heard it three times now, and had written it down on the small square of parchment she'd shoved into her pocket. It was almost too easy - she knew the answer already, even though none of the passing students had spoken their answer loudly enough for her to verify.

Marlene pulled up on her broom, flew into the Ravenclaw corridor through the open window, concealed her broom in her robes again, and set about decorating. She had to make the decorations look good, if only to keep any of the other doves from realizing she already had all the information she needed. So, little by little, stopping once or twice to hide from curfew-breaking stragglers, Marlene fitted the hallway with ravens and...claws...and plenty of blue.

§§§

Upon leaving the Gryffindor common room, Lily Disillusioned herself. Thus unseen, she sneaked down the main stairs to the door Severus always disappeared through after dinner, an ornate black aperture at the side of the Entrance Hall.

Lily opened the door and descended the long spiral stairwell immediately within. At the bottom, she was surprised to find a long, torchlit hallway that was apparently completely empty. No students, no decorations, and just one door, on her immediate left. Opening it cautiously, Lily recognized the hallway beyond as the one connecting the Potions classroom to the office of the Head of Slytherin House, Horace Slughorn. Nothing of interest there, then. She shut the door again and turned back to the apparently empty hallway. Just to be certain, she tiptoed down its length. All she passed on either side was blank stone that yielded no secrets to her curious examination.

Alas. This would be more of a fishing expedition than she had expected. She might have to get used to the idea of Slytherin green.

§§§

Mary prided herself on her ability to make a room look nice. She might not have been the smartest Gryffindor in her year, but she certainly had the best eye for design. She also had an affinity, probably because of her muggle father, for all things fae. Rare encounters with real fairies in the wizarding world had had little effect on Mary's love for the fairy stories, fairy rings, and fairy gardens her father had raised her on. With no real restrictions and the main piece of the puzzle already decided, Mary set out to make Hufflepuff House the best real, live, human-sized fairy garden she could muster.

§§§

Marlene had outdone herself. The Ravenclaw hallway was transfigured beyond recognition. The rough surface of the stone walls had been replaced by a decent approximation of brocade curtains, colored a deep blue. The ceiling was almost black, covered with a spray of conjured bronze bubbles. Two incessantly cawing ravens, transfigured from bats who had unluckily chosen tonight to pass outside the nearby window, occupied transfigured cages hanging from the torch brackets. A number of claws scattered underneath the ravens' cages made her smirk in amusement.

Satisfied, she took her leave.

§§§

Lily had been lucky: no stray Slytherins had come across her in the damp underground corridor. Even Disillusioned, she wasn't sure she could have escaped their notice in such close quarters. She had stopped jumping at every little sound as the night wore on, but it would still be a relief to get out of the dank dungeon air and back to her own dormitory.

She had assumed - purely because she had no information to the contrary - that the hallway was no longer than it needed to be and that the access point for the Slytherin common room must therefore be right at the end of it. She had placed the camera contraption in a hollowed-out space in the wall, smoothed over with notice-me-not charms and disguised with decorations. A bevy of snakes of all sizes slithered along the stone walls, ducking in and out of the channels and crannies that centuries of erosion had carved there. Not wanting to be unkind to any who might be afraid of snakes, Lily had made them all quite calm and, to be honest, not terribly interesting individually, though they did stick their tongues out or blink or hiss on occasion.

In a last nod to more universally-appealing decor, Lily had carpeted the entire hallway in a shimmering moss that compressed softly underfoot and lent a kind of hushed forest elegance to the whole affair.

Checking one last time to make sure the camera was concealed, Lily refreshed her Disillusionment charm and tiptoed back up the stairs - now also clad in emerald moss - slipped through the black door, and returned to Gryffindor Tower.

§§§

The Hufflepuff corridor, too, had been quiet. The Fat Friar had passed by once, taking Mary by surprise as he drifted through the wall beside her, but after a short conversation, he had agreed to keep her secret. He had even complimented her efforts.

The entire hallway was covered in a thick, verdant carpet of new life. Wildflowers waved near the walls and sprouted from the tops of the barrels stored nearby. A path of soft but hardy clover blazed between them, leading to the door. And a snarfalump named Snarfy occupied the large stone planter. Snarfy had lived in the Gryffindor common room since their second year. Mary liked to study at its sunny table near the windows, and had noticed its tendency to mimic her movements. She was hopeful now that it would be able to mimic the passing Hufflepuffs closely enough to get her into the other house's common room.

"Well, I guess everything is set," Mary muttered to herself, taking a last look around. "Good luck, Snarfy."

§§§

 _Imagine you're in a dark room. How do you get out?_

 _Too easy_ , Marlene thought. _Don't you just open the door?_


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Dedicated to readers and followers and especially to **iKloudz** , who left a lovely review! Thank you for your kind words, and I hope you enjoy the update :)

 **Disclaimer: As before, not mine. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 3**

Having returned to Gryffindor Tower well after their usual one o'clock bedtime, Lily, Mary, and Marlene were happy to sleep the day away come Saturday morning. Dorcas, however, was having none of it, and magically stripped each roommate of her warm, comfortable blankets as the clock struck ten.

"Up and greet the day, ladies! Things to do, people to see! Meals to eat!" she sang above the various shrieks and groans.

"Dorcas, it's Saturday! Why are we awake?" moaned Marlene.

"You have Quidditch practice," Dorcas answered.

"Yeah, at one!" Marlene objected.

"And Lily has a prefect meeting," Dorcas continued.

"Also at one!" Lily groaned.

"And I don't have anything! At all!" Mary wailed.

"Well, if you must know, I'm hungry and I didn't want to go down to eat on my own. So, get up, get dressed, let's get going!" Dorcas chivvied.

Lily trudged past her in the direction of the wardrobe. "Shower first, I think, Miss Evans. You look a fright."

Lily's summon a pillow off Dorcas' bed and threw it at her friend.

"You'd better go and wait in the common room, Dorcas. You're too awake for this room right now," Mary grumbled.

§ § §

Close to an hour later, the four girls trooped out of Gryffindor Tower and down to the Great Hall for an early lunch. Eleven o'clock was an awkward hour, even for a Saturday, and the hall was nearly empty when they took their seats.

Piling their plates high with toasted sandwiches and green salad, the girls settled in to eat. It consumed all their attention for a while - they had, after all, had a busy night and then slept through breakfast. The next few minutes passed in complete silence but for the clink of silverware and the splash of pumpkin juice.

At last, having taken the edge off, the table was ready once again for polite conversation. They never talked about their pranks in public, in case of eavesdroppers, so Marlene broke the silence with a different topic. "So, Mary, didn't you say you went to Emery Dearborn's party the last week of the holidays? How did you manage that, then?"

"Oh, we talked about it at dinner last night, but I suppose you weren't there. My cousin Lacey - on my mum's side, you know - one of her friends knows the Dearborns, so she invited Lacey and Lacey invited me. And it was ever so much fun, the music was excellent - Muggle and wizard both, did I tell you? - and their house elves had a whole buffet laid on-"

"And?"

"And there were these little fairy lights everywhere-"

"And?"

"And a very nice willow tree?"

"Mary!"

"What?"

"Tell me you didn't spend all night talking to the willow tree! Don't you have any gossip to spill?"

"Oh," Mary said, her face the very picture of innocence, "was that what you wanted to know?"

Marlene raised her eyebrows significantly and waited. After just a few moments, Mary's façade cracked she launched into an explanation of the night's events.

"Well," the blonde began dramatically, "to begin with, I don't think Sylvie and Nigel will be together much longer. She spent the entire night talking to Tilden and he disappeared halfway through the party holding hands with Astrid Rowle."

"A mutual breakup, then," Dorcas remarked drily.

"A two-for-one, because Gaspard had the misfortune of walking in on her an hour later with his hand up Aurelia Fudge's shirt. Astrid seemed to think that warranted breaking up with him," Mary smirked.

Marlene huffed impatiently. "I don't want to hear about random seventh-years, Mary! Who was there that we know?"

"Frank Longbottom went," Mary said thoughtfully. "People always say his family's so strict, but I suppose he got away for a night."

"Or they think the Dearborns are high-society enough to merit attending," Marlene pointed out.

"True. Who else...Amelia Bones was there; she floated around a lot and left before it got too crazy. I think these days she goes to network more than anything else. You know she's dead set on signing up with the DMLE right after graduation. Regulus Black was there, but not Sirius. There was a whole group of Slytherins there, actually, but they pretty much kept to themselves. Plotting in corners as usual, you know.

"There was a Quidditch match at midnight, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff vs. Ravenclaw and Slytherin. We didn't have a Keeper cos half our team just graduated, so Bell stepped up but he'd already downed about a handle of firewhiskey...we lost pretty badly. But they all came back in without their shirts on so...worth it," Mary concluded mischievously.

"Ooh, excellent. Life tip: Anything that ends in a shirtless Chaser is a thing worth doing," grinned Marlene. "Did you find anyone to dance with?"

Mary looked suddenly uncomfortable. "No, not really. I stayed with Lacey, mostly."

Marlene was about to question her further when she was interrupted by a shout of laughter from the direction of the Entrance Hall. The four marauders had made their way down to breakfast - or, rather, lunch - at last.

"Ladies! Looking lovely this fine morning!" Potter proclaimed, striding up to Lily and taking a seat beside her as the other three arrayed themselves around him.

His greeting having gone unanswered, Potter tried again: "Morning, Evans!"

"No," Lily admonished.

"Evans-"

"No."

"You didn't-"

"No-"

"-let me finish!"

"No."

"Do you even know what I was going to say?"

"Yes."

"Damn Prongs, thought you had her there," tutted Black.

Potter grinned winningly and said in a rush, "So Evans, first Hogsmeade weekend, what do you say?"

Lily pursed her lips and turned pointedly toward the girls on her left. "Not to eat and run, but I think I'll get going. You know I wanted to check on my potion before the prefects' meeting. And, you know, get away from...present company."

"Away from present company?" Potter remarked to Black in an undertone. "Did they have a fight, d'you reckon?"

"She means you, mate. You're the present company." Black scowled and raised his voice to an unnecessary volume so it would carry down the table. "Bitchy today, your Lilyflower. More than usual, I mean."

Rolling her eyes, Lily made for the door to the Entrance Hall as Potter finally processed the rest of her sentence. "Wait! Evans! Maybe… Maybe don't go down to check on your potion just now? It may be possible that something might perhaps be happening down in the dungeons that might maybe make the Slytherins rather...less than amicably disposed towards Gryffindors at the moment."

His warning, however, had the opposite of its intended effect as Lily quickened her pace, pulling her prefect badge from the bag slung over her shoulder and pinning it to her lapel as she went. "What have you idiots done now?" she muttered angrily, striding toward the door to the Entrance Hall. So intent was she on reaching her destination that she didn't notice the boy in her path until they collided.

"Merlin's beard! Careful, there!" he said, righting himself.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going, I just - Oh! Dearborn! Perfect!" Collision immediately forgotten, Lily's manner turned businesslike as she recognized her assailant. "Look, I think there might be something going on in the dungeons," she began. "I don't know what it is, I just thought I heard something-"

"Turning us in, of course," muttered Black, back at the table and out of earshot of their conversation. "And to the bloody head boy and all. What'd you have to go and tell her for, Prongs?"

The head boy, meanwhile, was confirming Lily's suspicions. "There was a bit of trouble, but it's cleared up. Couple of hexes reversed, couple of younger students brought up to the hospital wing. Lucky I happened to be down there, really; I had a meeting with Professor Slughorn this morning. Came out of it into the middle of things, rather, but it's all squared away now." He paused with a question on his features. "I'm afraid I don't remember your name. If you would be so kind?"

"Oh, of course. Evans. Lily, I mean. Lily Evans." She extended a hand for him to shake.

"Right!" Almost reflexively, he shot an aborted glance toward the Gryffindor table, a glimmer of recognition crossing his face before it was replaced by a wide smile. "Lily Evans. You know, I think you'd better call me Emery, if we're to be working together. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lily." He shook the proffered hand warmly. "You must have the ears of a bat, to have heard the commotion all the way from here. Very solicitous of you to go and investigate. I think you're going to make an excellent prefect, indeed." He smiled approvingly.

"Oh! Thank you, Dearborn. I mean, Emery." Lily returned his smile, then made again to descend the stairs to check on her potion.

Emery was at her side in a second. "It might be best not to visit the dungeons just now, Lily. I suspect the Slytherin prefects are still dealing with the aftermath. Besides, I could use some help setting up for this afternoon's meeting, if you would?"

"Right, of course. Remus is just over there; shall I grab him, too?"

"I think we'll be alright on our own. I imagine Potter and Black are keeping him pretty well occupied, anyway, don't you?"

Lily smiled wryly in acknowledgement of his point. "Lead the way, then."

§ § §

An hour later, the chairs were set out, the meeting packets had been collated, and the patrol schedule was on the board, ready to be filled in. Lily and Emery were sitting on the large desk at the front of the room when the others began to trickle in, led by head girl Philomena Spinnet. Giving Philomena and Emery a chance to confer alone, Lily took a seat near the window to wait.

Severus didn't sit with her when he entered the room, but that was no surprise. A prefect meeting was still a public space, after all. Remus Lupin, however, did slide into the seat beside her, and spoke in a whispered tone.

"I'm sorry about earlier. Sirius and James…" he shrugged helplessly. "Was everything alright in the dungeons?"

"Emery had it taken care of by the time I got there. I don't think he suspects you, don't worry."

Before Remus could reply, Emery and Philomena called the meeting to order. The next several hours passed in a haze of regulations and paperwork. Alice, a Gryffindor prefect in the year above, had spent the past year complaining constantly about the extra workload the position required, but Lily had still managed to underestimate the pile of papers she would be expected to fill out on a weekly basis. And that was on top of the stack of one-time forms they were working through together today. Forms about the study groups they were most qualified to supervise, forms about their prior evening commitments, forms introducing themselves to their patrol partners (luckily, since she and Remus were already fairly comfortable with each other, they were both able to discreetly skip that one). A form compelling the undersigned to execute his or her duties fairly and without bias. A form listing all the policies newly implemented since the end of the previous term. The process of filling in the large chalk patrol schedule was accompanied by a lecture, directed largely at the Ravenclaw couple from last night's patrol, on the importance of thorough and attentive patrolling. The Ravenclaws had the grace to look abashed, while Lily stared intently at the forms on the desk before her, expertly hiding a smile.

The hidden smile gave way to a hidden frown, however, as they remained on the topic of the mysterious decorations. Philomena displayed open amusement - even something that could have been pride - at the prank, which had obviously been perpetrated by members of her own house. Emery, on the other hand, was surprisingly hostile about the whole affair. The remainder of the prefects seemed overall to like their new house decorations, with the exception of the Slytherins. Lily almost gave herself away when Catherine Burke, the 5th year prefect from Slytherin, commented drily that the Slytherin decorations "weren't even snakes, but legless lizards - no surprise coming from those block-headed lions."

 _Damn. I knew they looked a little off._

Her mood went downhill from there. By the time the meeting ended three hours later, Lily was tired, stiff, and in no mood to seek out her friends. Instead, she spent an hour in the library before sneaking back down to the dungeons while the rest of the students were at dinner. Lily took a certain pride in her pranks, even if no one ever connected them to her, and conjuring _legless lizards_ onto the walls outside the Slytherin common room simply didn't measure up.

"Bloody legless lizards. Bloody notched tongues. Bloody eyelids. Bloody external ears," she muttered as she revised her charms. It was the work of but a few minutes to reshape each of the scaly creatures and release them back to their slithering. She took another moment to check on the camera contraption and found it still secure in its niche.

Knowing that at any moment the students in the Great Hall might finish their dinner and return to the Slytherin common room by the stone stairwell, Lily decided to slip out the door leading to the Potions hallway instead. She could check on her potion, grab a sandwich from the kitchens, and then join her friends in the Dovecote, now that her mood was somewhat improved.

Her plans were derailed by a low, demanding voice heralding her second chance encounter of the day.

"What do you think you're doing?" Severus pulled her sharply into a nearby storeroom, locking the door and lighting his wand as she massaged her abused wrist.

"I'm checking on my potion, same as you! What do you think you're doing, dragging me down the hall like that? I thought we weren't supposed to be seen together in public," she said harshly.

"Checking on your potion. Right. At the same time that you know I always come down here to work on mine. Clearly you're the one who needs reminding about being seen together in public," he hissed.

"I'm not the one who made the rule! And I'm not down here to see you. Like I said, I was just checking on my potion. I meant to do it earlier today, but...something came up."

"'Something' like another one of Potter's pranks? I thought you might have known about that. Lucky I ran out of time last night to start the boomslang skin simmering, or I'd be right back to square one, again. Right back where you want me, I suppose."

"What? What are you talking about, Severus?"

" _What are you talking about, Severus?_ " His voice dripped with sarcasm as he imitated her. "I'm sure you're totally unaware that, while the others created a distraction in the corridor, Potter ran into the workshop and vanished my potion - just mine, again - and took all the ingredients I had stored in my cabinet. If I'd actually added the ingredients from Mulciber like I told you I was going to, I'd be pretty badly off right now. But I didn't, lucky for me, and I can replace everything else from the student store cupboard. And you're just going to have to find some way of coping with me not obeying your every desire."

"Excuse me? My every desire? What desire?"

"Obviously you convinced Potter to get rid of my potion so I couldn't use the ingredients Mulciber got me. And now you're here to swoop in and save the day with some noble plan to bat your eyelashes at Slughorn, or maybe James Potter, and charm everything better."

"Wow, you really are self-centered. I do have a life, most of which - like my Potions project - has absolutely nothing to do with you. I am not here to see you, and I certainly didn't plan a prank with Potter just to screw you over, not least because Potter and I have nothing to do with each other. Now, I came down here to work on my potion. Would you please move so I can get going?"

"Nice try, Lily. You came down this morning and worked on it. It's already been stirred, and the heat's been turned down. I saw the checkmark next to today's date on your little task tracker. You have no reason to be down here other than me."

Lily's mind was racing. She had stayed in bed until ten this morning and, as a result of running into Emery, had gone straight from the Great Hall to the prefects' meeting without making it down to the dungeons. She hadn't worked on her potion. Had she checked off the wrong task last night? No - she clearly remembered placing a check next to "Friday - add nettle, 3 stalks."

"I don't understand-" she began, but Severus was still talking, his voice rising all the while. The pair were nearly nose to nose in the small storeroom, Severus' wand lighting the air between them. He was speaking so loudly now that students passing in the hallway outside could surely hear his words.

"You're a bad liar, Lily. I don't know why you're even trying to deny it." His face wore a sneer that barely masked the anger beneath. "The fact is that you've been trying to control my life for too long. You don't like my friends, you don't like my house, and now you don't even like my bloody schoolwork. Well, newsflash: sometimes people who live in the real world have to do things they don't like. I don't like your friends, but at least I don't insult you for deigning to associate with them! Not all of us lead charmed lives, Lily Evans, and if you can't deal with that then maybe you'd best shove off until you can!"

"You don't like my friends because you find them tedious. I don't like your friends because they keep putting first years in the hospital wing. Do you see how there's a difference there? Perhaps you don't, because frankly, it seems like you want to be just like them! Do you really aspire to be a bullying brute like Mulciber, Sev? I thought you were better than that, but maybe you aren't!"

Something snapped in Severus' eyes. He raised a white-knuckled fist, pointing one finger accusingly at her face and snarling through clenched teeth, "Don't speak of what you do not understand!"

Following his words there was a click and a sudden commotion. A figure bulled its way between the two of them, ramming into Lily and sending her tumbling backward into the rows of ingredients and supplies arrayed on the storeroom shelves. Brass tools and glass jars fell to the floor around her. Unbreakable charms protected some of them, but many shattered, their contents spraying everywhere. In the middle of the mayhem, Severus was shoved into the opposite wall.

"Keep your filthy hands away from her, Snape!" Potter roared. The previously locked storeroom door stood ajar and he now stood, fists clenched in anger and chest heaving, between her and her oldest friend. Severus reached for his dropped wand, but Potter had already summoned it to his hand and now held it out of his reach. "I don't think so, git. Give me one reason not to hex you into next week right now."

Severus, however, adjusted his disheveled robes with an air of forced calm and looked around Potter at Lily. "Nothing to do with each other, you said. Forgive me if I'm not convinced."

Puzzled, Potter turned to look at her. Severus took advantage of his inattention to sweep out of the storeroom door, the hem of his robes snapping around the corner as he departed. Never one to forget the details, he slammed the door shut behind him, hiding her and Potter from the prying eyes of any passers-by.

Potter took a half step after him, then seemed to think better of it, instead bending to offer Lily his hand. "Are you alright? I'm sorry that happened to you. He's a git, don't think anything of it."

She ignored the offered hand, rising and dusting herself off angrily. "Yeah. Great. Thanks for that. Arrogant prick."

"Hey, now, what the hell? I'm not asking for a thank you but I would have expected-"

A thought struck Lily suddenly, incensing her further. "You worked on my potion this morning," she accused.

"Well, yes, I just thought I'd- I mean, I followed your directions, and now you don't have to go back to it until class on Monday. You're welcome?" he tried.

"Stay out of my life, Potter," Lily snapped. "Not everyone wants to be your damsel in distress."

"Hey, he's the one who put his hands on you!"

"No, actually, he didn't! You, on the other hand, shoved me over with your great lump of a Quidditch body!"

Potter looked thoroughly wrong-footed by the turn his heroics had taken. Lily sighed.

"Just go, Potter. I'm sure you've got someone looking for you. There's always someone looking for you."

With that, she turned to face the mess of powders, potions and tools on the floor, _scourgifying_ a small space in which to kneel. The she busied herself with mending jars and sifting spilled materials until she heard the door open and close behind her and knew she was finally alone.


	4. Chapter 4

**iKloudz** : I'm glad you're finding something interesting in Snape. I find him really fascinating because he clearly had some level of influence within his own house, but the situation was so wildly different outside of it that it makes for a lot of interesting possibilities. I'm really enjoying exploring him. I also just love the sarcasm opportunities he creates - definitely a weakness of mine. As before, thank you for the review - your comment gave me so much motivation to write! - and I hope you enjoy the update!

 **Rage (Guest)** : Valid. There certainly isn't any James/Lily yet! However, it's going to be a long work and I wanted to give readers an idea of what they were getting into when they started, especially given that the title could be misleading otherwise.

Please enjoy Chapter 4! As always, not mine, and as always, look for a new update next weekend.

 **Chapter 4**

"Excuse me?" Lily's sharp voice was filled with indignant anger. "I'm quite sure I didn't hear you say what I thought I did."

"No, your ears are perfectly fine. It's your mind that needs fixing, my dear Evans," drawled Black. Lily had come to a halt halfway across the Great Hall, stopped in her tracks by Black's sardonic voice from behind her. She'd turned to see him ambling in her direction, affecting a disinterest that his stormy eyes belied. Black stood now a few feet from her, rocking back on his heels, thumbs hooked in the pockets of his robes.

"And you know all about my mind, do you?" she snapped.

"I know enough."

"Right," Lily said after a pause. "Right, well. If you'll excuse me." She turned to go.

"You haven't answered my question, Evans. Don't you think you owe James some gratitude? I hadn't taken you for the ungrateful type."

"Ungrateful?" Lily flushed with anger. "What on earth would I have to be grateful for? All Potter did was stick his nose where it didn't belong and make things worse!"

"Worse than being alone in a cupboard with Severus Snape? Not bloody likely!" There were titters from the students seated nearby and Lily noticed for the first time just how many eyes were on them. Remus, perhaps noticing the same thing, rose from his seat at the Gryffindor table and placed a restraining hand on Black's shoulder, speaking into his ear in a low voice. Black quickly shook him off.

"No, Remus, I will not 'lay off.' Prongs put himself on the line for her, again, and this is the thanks he gets? This one nattering on over breakfast about how 'arrogant' and 'self-important' he is? He deserves better than that. He deserves better than _her_." He advanced on her until they were quite close, too close, close enough to touch. Lily was acutely conscious of the way he towered over her, a thinly-veiled threat in his casual bearing. He all but slapped Remus' hand away as the boy attempted again to divert him. A few feet away, Pettigrew watched, wide-eyed, along with a hundred other silently-staring students as Black spoke again at last.

"Go back to your Slytherin boyfriend. May you have joy of him. I reckon you two deserve each other. For my part, I'll be making sure that James never so much as glances your way again."

"You'd be doing me a favor if you did, Black. Now, step the hell back from me before I make you." Sure enough, quicker than breathing her wand had appeared in her hand, angled in the scant inches between them. Black's eyes flicked down and arched his dark eyebrows, a half smirk appearing on his face. He raised his hands in a mockery of surrender, canting backward until gravity caught his weight and he took a casual step back. Remus was between them at once, talking Black back to the table, but over Remus' shoulder, Black's grey eyes never left Lily's green ones. In the end it was she who broke his gaze, stowing her wand again and strolling from the Great Hall as casually as she could manage.

§ § §

Not particularly wanting to return to the Dovecote and rehash the conversation that two of her three roommates had most certainly overheard, Lily passed the rest of her morning developing the film copied from the camera contraption she'd hidden down in the Slytherin hallway. Marlene had taught her some time ago how to develop film in the wizard way, so that the resulting pictures would move. She had also shown Lily the darkroom set up for the purpose, and that was where Lily was now, pulling the finished photos gently out of the developing solution and casting both drying and animation charms on them.

The photos told a clear story. The left-hand wall of the Slytherin hallway, all the way at the end, was actually a door of the same ornate styling as the one off the Entrance Hall. The door revealed itself to each approaching student a second or two after his or her arrival before it. The students made no movements to draw out the door, which left Lily with only one possible conclusion, and not a very heartening one: like the Fat Lady's portrait, the black door required a password. With her camera installed in the wall opposite the door, Lily was unable to see the entering students' faces. She couldn't attempt to read the password from their lips. Even if she had been willing to break the rules Dorcas had set down and make changes to her setup today, she was out of film for the camera. Things were looking grim.

She was an eternal optimist, though, and never one to back down from a challenge. If there was a clue to be had, she would have it. If there was a game to be won, she would win it. Gathering up the stack of photos, Lily moved to a sunny windowsill she frequented near the Charms classroom and began to page through in search of anything she might have overlooked.

§ § §

Meanwhile, Mary was having troubles of her own. She was currently seated in an empty classroom around the corner from the Hufflepuff hallway, with Snarfy perched on a desk nearby. She'd successfully summoned the plant from its stone planter to the end of the hallway and had conferred with it. (She could hear Dorcas scoffing in her head at her use of the word "confer," but what did Dorcas know? Herbology was Mary's domain.)

The plant had given her some useful information. It seemed that it had, as she had hoped, learned to mimic some common movements of the students who passed by it. The one it performed the most often was a sort of knocking: _tap-tap tap-tap-tap._ That, she thought, must be a secret Hufflepuff knock. But where to do it? There was no door in the hallway that she had ever seen, only an assortment of barrels. Clearly she was in need of more data. So she set about replacing Snarfy in its planter to continue its surveillance.

§ § §

Marlene, on the other hand, was spending her day on the grounds, lying on a blanket with a book. The late summer sun was shining, the last of the pollen-laden bees were buzzing, and she was taking it easy. She had her answer ready for Monday. To get out of a dark room, you just had to open the door. It was funny, really, how easy riddles were when you looked at them from a normal person's perspective. If the Ravenclaws thought this sort of thing was hard, it must be because they were overcomplicating things with their genius brains. It was lucky their greatest rivalry was with Hufflepuff House, whose denizens were not generally disposed to do much pranking, because these riddles offered Ravenclaw Tower no real security at all.

Warm with sunshine and self-satisfaction, Marlene continued to read.

§ § §

Lily's close examination of the photos had paid off. She had noticed something from camera's perspective that she hadn't been able to see from the ground: a small ventilation shaft, really just a gap in the stones, high on the wall across from the black door. If her estimations were correct, the other side of that wall would be somewhere near Slughorn's office. That meant it would be legal, more or less, to look for the other end of the shaft, as she would be able to find it without actually entering the Slytherin hallway. Plus, after all, her decorations _had_ led her to this discovery. And, more to the point, if she did happen to overhear a password upon finding the ventilation shaft, nobody would ever know that she had been eavesdropping, because none of her friends ever entered the dungeons unless they absolutely had to.

Investigations, though, would have to wait until after dark when the hallways emptied of students. For now, though her workload was light, it wasn't nonexistent, and she had some catching up to do. Transfiguration reading, two feet of parchment on the fair and legal use of protean charms, and a number of runic translations awaited her, not to mention the letter she had promised her father. Deciding to start with the most straightforward, Lily gathered her things and went off in search of a studymate for Ancient Runes.

After passing through an oddly quiet Gryffindor common room, she found Dorcas once more seated in a straight-backed chair at the Dovecote's wooden desk. The other girl raised a hand in greeting as Lily walked in, but did not look up from her work until reaching the end of a paragraph a few minutes later. Then, laying down her quill, she turned in her chair to look at Lily straight on.

"So, my fiery ginger friend, what happened at the breakfast I slept through this morning? Rumors have been flying around all day; I had to come up here to escape the madness in the common room earlier," she said with an air of mild exasperation.

"Oh, God. That would explain why everyone downstairs got quiet when I walked in. Nothing really, just Black being a git and scolding me for not thanking Potter after he rescued me from Severus' evil clutches. Why, what did you hear?"

"Take your pick; what didn't I hear? The fourth-year girls are a veritable font of gossip, you know, and Mary's been in and out as well and you know what she's like. I've heard that you and Snape duelled and Potter gallantly stepped in to save you when you were overwhelmed, that Snape and Potter duelled for your favor and Potter lost, that they duelled for your favor and Potter won but you chose Snape anyway, that Potter walked in on you and Snape shagging, that Snape walked in on you and Potter shagging, that you and Snape and Potter were all three shagging-"

"Oh my God, no more!" Lily cut her off, hands firmly over her ears. "What the hell is wrong with people? Why does every rumor end in shagging?"

"You have to admit that, of all the places to get caught alone with Snape, a locked storeroom with no torches was not the most innocent you could have chosen."

"People suck, Doe. People just suck."

"I'm glad you're starting to see things my way."

§ § §

The other party to the rumors flying around was as yet unaware of them or, indeed, of the events that morning in the Great Hall which had set them off. Potter had skipped breakfast in favor of a late-morning run, and his friends had met him outside, keen to keep him from encountering anyone in the castle until things had settled down a little. But Black had been called inside to serve a detention from McGonagall and Remus had had to go and supervise his first study group as a prefect - Defense Against the Dark Arts for the second years - leaving Pettigrew the sole chaperon.

Pettigrew, unfortunately, believed entirely too strongly in free will to be a good chaperon. When Potter suggested heading to the kitchens for a snack, seeing as how he had missed breakfast and they were both now too late to eat a proper lunch, Pettigrew agreed, thinking that at least the lower floors would probably be relatively empty of students on such a nice day.

He was proven unexpectedly wrong as they rounded the last corner before the kitchens. Potter suddenly flung out an arm, catching Pettigrew in the chest and throwing them both back out of sight. Mary Macdonald crouched behind a barrel a few feet away, wand out, brows furrowed in concentration, covered from head to toe in specks of dirt. The rest of the hallway was similarly filthy and, as they watched, the reason soon became apparent.

" _Infodio_ ," muttered Mary frustratedly, aiming her wand at a planter down the hall and then flicking it toward the ceiling. Clods of dirt flew out of the planter in response. " _Infodio!_ " she tried again, sending more dirt soaring skyward. " _Infodio, infodio, infodio!_ " With every incantation the hallway became more and more soiled and Mary became more and more desperate.

"She's gone mad," Pettigrew whispered.

"She's getting there, for sure," Potter whispered back. "What say we give her a hand?" With a murmured incantation, he returned the soil to the planter; then, with a downward flick this time, he cast _infodio_ to dig a perfectly round hole. Smirking to himself, he whispered over his shoulder at Pettigrew, "I knew someday I'd be glad I helped my mother with the garden-"

"Look out!" Pettigrew hissed, pulling Potter back around the corner by the shoulder as Mary turned round in confusion.

"Hello?" Mary called. When the boys made no reply, she took a few hesitant steps in their direction. They backtracked hastily up the hallway and reached a somewhat concealing statue just as Mary's head peeked around the corner. "Is someone there?" Still there was no answer. Deciding at length that it must have been the wind, Mary shook her head bracingly and wondered aloud, "How on earth did I manage that?"

The boys barely stifled their snickers.

Unfortunately for them, they were still concealed around the corner when the following ensued: a whispered incantation ( _"Wingardium leviosa"_ ), followed by the settling of roots into soil; a sequence of taps on a particular barrel ( _Hel-ga Huf-fle-puff_ ), followed by the opening of a door; a disbelieving exclamation ("Gulping gargoyles!"), followed by the shrieking of one delighted Gryffindor. Snarfy the snarfalump had reached one waving tentacle across the narrow hallway and come through for Mary Macdonald.

By the time Potter and Pettigrew reached the hallway, caution thrown to the wind in light of the strange noises, their curiosity, and Mary's extreme reaction, the girl was gone.

§ § §

"Is everyone ready for tomorrow?" Dorcas asked the girls that night as they lazed around the Dovecote after dinner.

"Yes," chorused Mary and Marlene.

Lily nodded. She wasn't, quite, but she wasn't going to let anyone else know that. They'd spoken further and agreed to push the starting line to 11pm on Monday. Each girl planned to enter her respective common room while Disillusioned, but they would have to reveal themselves when they took their photos (using muggle Polaroid cameras borrowed from the Muggle Studies teacher, with whom Mary was quite friendly) as proof of their success. The fewer students were still awake at the time, the better for all of them. As a result, Lily would have all of tonight to try to learn the Slytherin password.

Lily closed the hangings around herself at nine with the excuse of a headache brought on by the tense atmosphere at dinner. Potter had apparently managed to pass the entire day without overhearing a single whisper of her encounter with Black this morning, but that had ended the second he sat down to eat. One of his many younger admirers had taken it upon himself to express his sympathy for Potter's plight in dealing with, in his words, "cheating bints." Potter had looked at Black, expecting to exchange looks of puzzlement, but finding instead an expression of irritation, tinged with guilt.

"Padfoot, what's he talking about?"

Remus had glared Black into submission before serving Potter the barest of explanations, promising more detail later when they were alone. The rest of the meal had passed in near silence, with Black sulking stormily at being muzzled and Potter burning hot with unasked questions. The girls had made their escape from the awkwardness as soon as possible, retreating to the Dovecote. And now Lily waited for her roommates to go to sleep so she could complete the final part of her plan in secret.

At long last, around half past ten, Dorcas closed her textbook, put out the desk lamp and climbed into her four-poster. Lily waited a long fifteen minutes, counted out in the soft snores and small movements of the other girls. Then she made her move.

She hadn't changed out of her school clothes, so all she had to do was slip into her shoes and out the door. The stairs to the common room were dark and empty, quiet but for the murmurs of voices behind doors where students had not yet turned in for the night. Passing the fifth year boys' dorm, she could hear Potter and Black in the middle of the discussion that had been put off earlier.

"I think it's time to give it up as a bad job. Move on to someone else. Plenty of fish in the sea and all that."

"I'm not the giving up type, Padfoot. I'm just not. Maybe it doesn't make any sense, but I can't give up on this."

 _Dear Lord, the melodrama on these two_ , thought Lily with a roll of her eyes. _Just because I don't fall all over myself panting after him, he's got to treat it like some big challenge. Can't move on without chalking up a win. Well, I guess he won't be moving on, then._ She sighed. _...I hope Black can persuade him. It could be a long three years to graduation, otherwise._

Eleven o'clock found her ensconced in the shadowy corner of a new storeroom, a few feet from the scene of her supposed tryst with Severus. This one was less well-kept, housing only some spare cauldrons and archived textbooks, and less popular with couples and mischief-makers. The floor was covered with mildew, which accounted for the comparative lack of popularity. But the ceiling had one important feature: the other end of the ventilation shaft which opened near the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Lily was hoping against hope to overhear the password she needed. Losing was never much to her taste, especially in a game of her own devising. She just needed one straggling student to speak loud enough…

A long, tedious two hours later, she got her answer. _Tradition_. Some two or three students, by the sound of it, had just returned to their common room and the word had echoed with perfect clarity to the little neglected storeroom. _Finally. Now off to bed with you._ Cautiously, Lily peeked both ways down the dark hallway. It remained as deserted as it had been all night. She stepped out and tiptoed toward the west side stairs, easing the door open and ascending as quickly and silently as she could. Just one more flight of stairs, then a secret passage and a back staircase up to the hallway adjacent to Gryffindor Tower. Surely she could make it.

Suddenly, Lily heard ringing footsteps. In a panic, she realized these stairs were too narrow for her to hide on, even if she could cast a Disillusionment charm without whoever it was overhearing and discovering her. She glanced up, looking for an idea of how long she had to think of a plan, and nearly groaned aloud in dismay. Coming down the stairs above her was, not just any straggling student, but the head boy himself. He was only two flights away now, giving her no time to retreat to a wider space. He was going to pass right by her.

There was nothing for it. She made a mad dash for the entrance to the secret passage, praying Emery didn't know about it to chase her into, hoping his echoing footsteps would somehow cover the sound of her running ones. Through the false wall and up the spiral staircase she ran like the deer from the hunter, and she didn't stop until she reached the exit four storeys above. Even then, she spared no more than a cursory glance for the hallway outside, certain that danger behind was far more likely than danger ahead. She tore on tiptoe, holding her breath against the sound of her winded panting, down this hall and up the other, until she reached the portrait hole and dove inside.

Thankfully, the common room was empty. Completely winded, unable to go a step further, Lily collapsed spread-eagled to the floor, focusing on nothing but the feeling of air returning to her lungs and stillness returning to her muscles.

Safe.

And successful.

Yet another mission accomplished.

 _Lily Evans, you. are. awesome._


	5. Chapter 5

**brongsandbrofoot** : You know what else is awesome? Your username.

A longer chapter, and a day earlier than last time! I think this one turned out better than in previous weeks. I had a lot more time to write. I hope you all agree! As ever, not mine, and look for an update next weekend.

 **Chapter 5**

Monday morning brought the beginning of their second week of classes. Lily's day began with a leisurely breakfast of milky tea, toast, and strawberry jam, consumed while reading the Sunday edition of the _Coketown Chronicle_ that she had her dad owl in once a week.

Not much of interest was happening in her little hometown. The old factory district whose general abandonment had turned Severus' neighborhood into a near-ghost town was being "regenerated" into a succession of indoor markets; the first would open in two months. Her old primary school was putting on a play to raise money for new playground equipment. The St. Giles Women's Choir was recruiting sopranos. Even with all the changes, Lily knew that her little corner of Cokeworth would never really change: the swings that she and Sev had carved their names into would always hang in the same park - their park - and would remain forever broken-down; the beaten dirt path that led from the back of her long garden to the corner of his street would never grow over with grass. Because it couldn't, because that was the way things were.

Even if things between her and Severus were no longer the way they were.

Lily's mind turned predictably to her best friend. He hadn't spoken to her since Potter had pushed in on them, but that wasn't unusual. It had only been a little over a day, and they didn't usually speak on Sundays. She liked to keep her Sundays open for Quidditch matches and time with friends, the occasional tea with Professor Slughorn, and homework as necessary. He reserved Sundays for his experiments. He hadn't yet settled on a subject for his seventh year project, but he was between Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions, and as such spent plenty of time developing both new potions and new spells. He had always been much more drawn to the abstract, the theory, whereas Lily could never love anything more than the feeling - a sort of childish wonder - of making actual magic actually happen. If anything, that made them a better pair, at least for classwork, if not for real life. They balanced each other well, but perhaps they didn't have the same priorities.

With a huff, she pushed aside thoughts of Severus. What was coming would come, and worrying never helped anyone. And besides, her tea was stone cold and only crumbs remained of her toast, indicating it was about time to get to class.

Lily passed Remus, along with Black and Potter, on her way out of the Great Hall and sent him a smile. He looked entirely put together and more than a little impatient. Black and Potter looked like - well, they looked like the reason Remus was coming down to breakfast ten minutes before the start of Ancient Runes. Pettigrew, naturally, was nowhere to be seen, having weighed his scheduling options heavily in favor of sleeping in, and having therefore taken Divination instead.

On her way up the stairs, Lily heard someone shout her name. She turned to find Emery racing up the steps behind her, looking far less stately than he usually did. Wondering if she was about to be accused of breaking curfew right here on the staircase, Lily reluctantly ground to a halt.

"Lily, hello! How are you? Had a good weekend?"

Safe for now, then, surely.

"Yes, quite good, and you?"

"Not bad at all. Lots of paperwork yesterday setting up the patrols. Listen, I and Philomena had the idea to make a temporary schedule for all of your first rounds, pair up the new prefects with the older ones, give everybody a test run before we throw you in the deep end. Make sure everyone is clear on the procedures. Especially after that ridiculousness with the Ravenclaws on Friday, I mean, Merlin… Anyway, point is, we have rounds tonight, you and I. First shift."

"Oh, excellent." She smiled brightly. "I'll be learning from the best."

"Oh, no, you're terribly kind. I'm sure you'd be just fine on your own, but hopefully I can give you a few pointers. I just thought I'd better take the first shift, as it was my idea. Only fair." He returned her smile. "I'll pick you up at eight, then. We can meet outside the Gryffindor common room."

"Don't we need to go and fill out paperwork in the prefects' office first?"

"I'll fetch it down and we can do it on the way. No need for us both to walk all the way up there."

He was being awfully considerate, so Lily refrained from saying what was on her mind, which was that if the two flights of stairs between Gryffindor common room and the prefects' room bothered her, two hours of walking rounds would just about do her in. Instead, she nodded in confirmation and went on her way, in a slight hurry now to reach Ancient Runes on time.

Sliding into her seat near the window, Lily was hailed by a group of Ravenclaws from across the room. Leander Lewis and Neil Burbage had been in her Arithmancy class last year, and Adrian Twycross and Emma Vector were the Ravenclaw prefects for their year.

"Morning, Evans!" called Lewis in his lilting voice. "I hear you had quite the exciting weekend." She looked up to find him grinning cheekily, wry tone making it clear that he was joking.

"Oh yes, very exciting. Plenty of escapades. I'm sure everything you've heard is true," she drawled, trying to ignore the fact the slight blush rising in her cheeks.

"Exactly as I thought. Well, congratulations on your prowess, Evans. Quite a feat, bringing Gryffindor and Slytherin together like that."

Lily burst out laughing. "You are a terror, Lewis. Do I have you to thank for any of these rumors?"

"Only the interesting ones."

She grinned and turned back to her desk as another group of students entered the room. Potter and Black, evidently more awake now and talking animatedly, dropped into seats behind her, followed by Remus. Dorcas, a few steps behind them, took her accustomed seat to Lily's left. A minute later, a rush of students both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw barely beat the late bell. Professor Bailiwick was the last in the door, and class commenced.

The remainder of Lily's morning classes - after Ancient Runes came Transfiguration, by which time Peter had rolled himself out of bed, and then Charms - passed similarly. If the Marauders were a little more distant and Black's jaw a little tighter every time he looked in her direction, it was a small enough thing as not to disrupt her day. The comments from others about the rumors their argument had sparked, however, were relentless. Nobody - nobody in the fifth year, anyway - believed them, it seemed, but everyone had another two cents to put in. Some advised her to stay away from Severus, some from Black. Variants of "blood will out" came up several times. Interestingly, neither her nor Potter's reputation seemed to have sustained any damage from the episode. People seemed more concerned about the possibility of an all-out house war between Gryffindor and Slytherin - between Black with his Marauders and Severus with his gang - than presuming of any truth behind the rumors.

The exception, as she should have predicted, was the Slytherins. The first Gryffindor-Slytherin class of the week came after lunch, when both houses made their way down to Potions. Classes that combined Gryffindor and Slytherin were always questionable, and the relatively free format of Potions class provided that little bit of extra volatility to the mix. As a result, Lily wasn't too surprised when things came to a head after Professor Slughorn left the room to restock some depleted ingredients.

After slicing up a batch of particularly overripe baneberries, Lily found her cutting board covered in their foul juice. She tipped the slices into her cauldron, stirred the mixture until it began to smoke again, then crossed the classroom to fetch a fresh one, unfortunately walking right through the middle of Mulciber and Avery's gang to do so. Whispers of "Snape" and "Potter" "Mudblood" and "revolting" sprang up on all sides, and upon returning to the workstation she shared with Severus, Lily found that someone had followed her back.

"Look, Evans, why don't you partner with someone else for today?" suggested Avery, hard features betraying the fact that it wasn't really a suggestion at all.

"Why, do you need Sev's help?" Lily retorted, sliding her things onto the table and leaning against it, arms crossed, facing the newcomer. "I'm not sure even he can work that much magic, Avery."

Behind Avery's back, Severus winced at Lily's use of his nickname, then shut his eyes at the sentence that came after.

"No, Evans, I don't need help. I think you're the one who needs some help. Let me _help_ you back to a...more appropriate partner." He reached out to take her by the elbow.

"Don't touch me, Avery!" At her exclamation, Potter stood up from his stool with a scraping of wood against stone floor. Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Black roll his eyes and grab Potter by the arm, pulling him back down. Good. She didn't need more of his "help."

Avery, meanwhile, had pulled his hand back but was no further away. In fact, he took a step closer, leaning into her and speaking in a low voice. "Now, Evans, we don't need to make a big deal of this. Just go and work with someone else. You wouldn't want anyone to get any…wrong ideas about your relationship, would you? From now on, I think it'd be best if you stuck to working with your own sort."

 _My own sort?_ Lily raised her eyebrows, unimpressed, and looked to Severus to say something. After all, Avery was in his house, was his friend, and was therefore far more under his control than hers. But to her dismay, as soon as she caught his eye, Severus jerked his head to the side, indicating that she should go.

Lily's next words died on her tongue and her eyes met the floor. She'd forgotten the cardinal rule of her relationship with Severus: no relating in public. Apparently it rated even higher than the rule about standing up for one's friends.

Her other friends - some might say, her real friends - were at her side in seconds. Mary slung an arm around her shoulders, walking her to their table across the aisle as Dorcas levitated Lily's things to her new location. Marlene was busy scooting the rest of their things aside to make room.

"It's probably not the most tactful time to say this," Marlene said under her breath, "but can we please be done with him now?"

Lily was silent.

§ § §

She was more or less silent the rest of the day. They didn't have any more classes with the Slytherins, thankfully. After Potions, Potter had tried to talk to her, but Lily had brushed him off and Dorcas had walked nearly through him in an effort to stay by Lily's side. They'd walked like that, together, to Herbology and then to an early dinner, after which they'd dithered over their pudding long after most of the other diners had gone up. They were almost back to Gryffindor Tower before Lily remembered that Emery would be showing up for rounds before too long. Sighing, she showered and changed into a fresh outfit, one that didn't smell of soil and baneberry juice, before settling in outside the portrait hole, leaning on a railing to wait.

Emery showed up right on time, hands full of papers as promised. They set out as soon as he'd arrived, and as they walked, he passed her her half of the papers.

"Point deduction forms you should be familiar with - the sign in/sign out form, which we just have to return to the slot by the door when we get back - and the rounds rota. You're the first to see it, besides me and Philomena. We just finalized it at dinner."

"That's great. Thanks, Emery."

Emery looked at her more closely. "Are you alright? You seem upset."

"Of course, I'm fine. Just a bit tired, I suppose."

"Ah. Well, it's lucky you didn't have to walk up to the prefects' office, then, isn't it?" He said, with far more swagger than the statement warranted, then smiled. Lily had to laugh at his efforts to cheer her, and nodded.

"Yes, I suppose it is."

The rounds passed surprisingly quickly after that. Emery was really quite a competent conversationalist, and they covered a range of topics, from her OWL electives to her dreams for the future to her favorite meal served by the Hogwarts house elves. The doves were lovely, and Severus would always be special to her, but Emery's careful courtesy was something new and entirely pleasant.

As far as prefect duties went, the night was largely uneventful. They emptied a couple of closets of snogging couples - Emery by knocking firmly, Lily by simply opening the door and letting the lovebirds fall out. They came upon Marlene's first-year brother Oliver and his best friend Jack outside the kitchens. The boys were so engrossed in figuring out how to get in that they didn't notice the prefects until they were right behind them. Their symmetrical slow turns and identical dread-filled faces nearly broke Lily's composure, but she managed to force the laugh back down her throat and inquire as to what they were doing, out past curfew and at the entirely other end of the castle from their Gryffindor and Ravenclaw beds.

"Hi, Lily-"

"Dearborn! I can explain-"

"Ollie heard - I mean, we heard-"

"But we couldn't-"

"We weren't really-"

Lily raised an eyebrow, cleared her throat and waited for one of them to spit it out. It was Jack who eventually managed it.

"We heard some older boys talking about going to the kitchens, so we asked where they were, and they told us about this painting. But they wouldn't tell us how to get in once we'd got here. We've been here for nearly an hour. Can you tell us, please?" he said in a rush.

It was lucky that Emery fielded that one, as Lily was again having trouble keeping the smile from her face.

"Certainly not. The kitchens are no place for students. The house elves keep very busy, you know. It's not appropriate for you to visit them."

"But James said-"

She should have known this would tie back to Potter somewhere along the line. Emery, too, looked less than pleased at the mention of the famed troublemaker.

"It doesn't matter what anyone else said, Oliver, you knew it was past curfew. I'm going to have to dock you points."

Over the boys' sudden and strenuous objections, he turned to Lily. "Actually, perhaps I should let you do it, as this is supposed to be your training patrol?"

Silence fell. Ollie, who knew Lily from her visit to the McKinnons' over the summer, turned to her with puppy-dog eyes, clearly hoping for a reprieve. Jack looked less certain.

"Um, sure. Let's think about this. You're out past curfew, but you aren't doing anything nefarious… And it's your first time, and you are first-years. I think a five-point deduction each is fair. But don't let me catch you again, or it'll go up," she warned.

"How are you gonna remember, though?" challenged Ollie, who clearly thought he knew Lily far too well and in fact didn't know her nearly well enough. Lily extracted a notebook and a pen from her bag, tearing out one or two pages she'd doodled on as she did so. Then she wrote "Oliver McKinnon - breaking curfew (1st time) - 5 points" on the first line and "Jack Firth - breaking curfew (1st time) - 5 points" on the second. Pulling out her wand, she closed the notebook and laid it down on a nearby ledge, then waved her wand in a complicated zigzag pattern and murmured " _conquiro_ Oliver McKinnon."

The notebook flipped open to the first page, where "Oliver McKinnon" was highlighted in gold.

"Wicked!" Jack screeched, having seemingly forgotten that this little notebook would be the instrument of their compounding punishments for the next three years. "Can you teach us?"

"Not now. It's past curfew. But if you come to the Charms study group on Wednesday, I assume-" she broke off, looking to Emery for verification; he nodded "- yes, I'll be supervising the Charms study group on Wednesdays, so if you come and ask, I'll show you how it works. Now run along and don't let us catch you again tonight!"

"Okay, Lily!" they chirped, and ran off at top speed.

"I didn't-" she started to shout, then realized it was hopeless and finished more quietly, "I didn't mean literally…"

Emery was smiling indulgently. "Well done. It's important to have a system, just to make sure everything's fair. Just take a little more care with your wording next time. First-years have a tendency to jump on any opportunity for sanctioned misbehavior."

"I see that now."

The rest of the round was quiet. Nighttime escapades weren't yet in full swing, it being only their second week back. Lily found a couple of misplaced textbooks, which Emery was now gallantly carrying to the general lost and found for her, and a lost Gryffindor tie, which she would take back to the Gryffindor lost and found herself. By the time they had finished filing their papers away in the prefects' office and split off toward their separate towers, Lily was in a far better mood.

Just in time for the end of the doves' prank.

§ § §

"3...2...1...go!" said Dorcas, seated in the Muggle Studies classroom, the nearest one to Gryffindor Tower. It was eleven o'clock, and they were about to divide the winner from the losers. Lily, Mary, and Marlene hastily Disillusioned themselves and sped off to their separate assignments, Muggle cameras in hand.

Ravenclaw Tower was closest to their starting point and Marlene was the first to reach her destination. The large oak door acknowledged her presence as soon as she came to a halt, intoning, "Imagine you are in a dark room. How do you get out?" Despite knowing, rationally, that the riddle wouldn't have changed since she'd last heard it, Marlene felt a sense of relief at hearing it again. She smirked and opened her mouth to answer.

Lily reached the Slytherin common room next. When she approached the end of the Slytherin hallway, knowing which wall hid the door, it transformed immediately. The password, "tradition," opened it, and she was golden.

Mary's trip to the Hufflepuff common room took perhaps half a second longer. Panting from the run, she rapped her knuckles on the appropriate barrel, throwing Snarfy an appreciative glance over her shoulder. The door - previously just a section of wall which she could now tell was almost-invisibly circumscribed by a hairline crack - grew large silver hinges and a lock, which clicked.

Another long, dark hallway met Lily's eyes. It was lit by torches, but the mahogany panelling and red-wine carpet absorbed much of the light. She had the impression of a Muggle museum, of an exhibition in which too much light might damage the precious artifacts. Rows of portraits, some of whose occupants she recognized from her History of Magic textbook, increased the similarities. Lily dashed on tiptoe, shoes silent on the plush carpet, toward the end of the hallway and the common room.

Mary stepped through the door and found herself in a small, brightly-lit space, rather like a mudroom, lined with benches and cloakhooks. The antechamber opened up into a large, homey den beyond. At the center of the den was a brick-lined firepit, surrounded by groups of cushy armchairs much like those back in Gryffindor Tower. She knew she was pressed for time, but she couldn't resist taking a brief loop around the room, looking at the various posters, flyers and artworks hanging there, including some in what appeared to be a rotating gallery of contributions by first- and second-years. A sideboard equipped with a small stove and a kettle indicated the Hufflepuffs could make tea and maybe even hot chocolate without leaving their common room. Mary was almost jealous, until she remembered that she and the other doves had found a secret passage from their own common room down to the real, fully-equipped kitchens before their first year was over. No need to be jealous of the Hufflepuffs, then. Thank Merlin.

At last, Lily reached the end of the long, portrait-lined hallway. With the late hour, all the denizens were sleeping and didn't notice her pass. At the end of the hallway lay an elegant and well-appointed common room. The long, velvet-upholstered sofas were a deep emerald green, set off by cream-colored rugs and flanked by polished end tables. The space was absolutely beautiful, but too opulent for Lily's comfort. She had wanted to be sorted into Slytherin, long ago in first year when Severus had been her only friend in all the world, but she had the feeling that living in this place would only have made her feel out of place, unworthy. She wondered that Sev didn't feel the same way, then reflected that that feeling would only have made him more determined to make himself belong. He had always been that sort, and his recent efforts to get in with Mulciber and Avery's little gang were simply more of the same. Anyway - she shook her head as if to clear it - regardless of what she might or might not feel for the space, she had a job to do. Time to win a bet.

There were only two students in the Hufflepuff common room, and both of them were facing away from her and into a corner, heads together, probably studying. Mary quickly dispelled her Disillusionment charm, held the Polaroid up in front of her, put on her smarmiest grin, and took a picture of herself against the backdrop of the younger children's art gallery. Then, before the pair of students could turn round, she ran back to the mudroom, recast her Disillusionment charm, opened the door - luckily finding no one outside - and dashed back toward Dorcas.

The Slytherin common room was occupied by no less than twelve students. They couldn't see her yet, as she was still under her Disillusionment charm, and luckily the long hallway had disguised the inexplicably opening door from their view. But they were scattered about the room facing in every direction, and a couple were simply staring into space. If she took down her charm here, they would be sure to see her. Lily pondered for a moment, then decided that the portrait-lined hallway was distinctive enough to serve as her proof. She stepped back into the hallway, dropped her charm, took her photo wearing her best "elegant" face - chin tilted defiantly upward, one eyebrow arched - then ran for the finish line.

The girls ran as if their lives depended on it. Lily was as competitive as they come, and Mary was not going to let this rare chance at actually winning a bet slip away. Up staircases, around corners, down darkened hallways they flew, racing each other back to the common room.

Until Lily swung round a corner and nearly collided with none other than Oliver McKinnon.

For a moment she thought he wouldn't notice her, but then she realized she hadn't recast her Disillusionment charm. She, her exertion-reddened face and her wind-ruffled hair were entirely visible.

"Lily!" Ollie squeaked in alarm.

"Ollie! What are you doing here?" Lily demanded, trying to keep from tapping her foot with impatience. She still had a chance, if the others hadn't made it in yet. She could still win.

"I'm - uh - yeah, I got nothing," Ollie admitted. "I was trying to find the kitchens again, but I got lost. Why are you running?"

Lily tried to think of an answer that didn't sound as incriminating as the situation looked. "I - well, I heard you up ahead, and Filch is coming. I wanted to warn you. Don't think you aren't losing points for this, though, just as soon as I get to my notebook. But for now you'd better get going before he catches you," she advised, succeeding moderately at looking like this had really been her plan all along.

Ollie blanched at the thought of being caught by Filch. "Thank you, Lily! Are you going back to the Tower, too? Can we go together? I don't know if I can find it on my own," he finished sheepishly.

"Yeah, sure. But we've got to run, because Filch is coming."

"I thought you said before that I shouldn't run?"

"Ollie, I swear to God if you don't-"

But Ollie was already ten steps ahead of her.

§ § §

By the time Lily reached the classroom they were meeting Dorcas in, she knew she must have lost. She could hear voices floating down the corridor, and the door had been carelessly left open. She sighed, admitting defeat to herself, and went in.

"Mary!"

"Lily!"

"Dorcas!" Dorcas added sarcastically.

"Sorry, Mary, I was expecting Marlene," Lily explained.

"So was I," grumbled Dorcas. "And I get this one talking my ear off for the past five minutes instead."

"Five minutes? You beat me by five minutes?"

"I reckon so," Mary answered with a proud, but rather shy, smile.

"And Marlene hasn't been back?"

"No," said Dorcas. "Shall we wait here for her or shall we leave her a note?"

"Let's wait here," proposed Mary. "She can't be long."

§ § §

She could, it transpired, be long. Half an hour later, they were still waiting for her, and only the fact that their Tuesday classes didn't start until ten was keeping Dorcas from complaining. At length, Lily suggested going to find her, just in case something had gone wrong.

It took all of the girls' not-inconsiderable self-control to keep from laughing at the sight that met them on reaching Ravenclaw Tower.

Marlene, her Disillusionment charm long expired and never refreshed, stood outside the oaken door with a look of pure fury on her features. Every few seconds she threw a new comment its way, sometimes in a hiss under breath, sometimes at the top of her lungs. The door, for its part, remained impassive.

"It's a bloody room, not a bloody vault! What can the door be made of? I cut it down with an axe! I use a battering ram! Is there a chair in the room? I throw the chair through a window! I set the room on fire! If you don't let me in _now_ , I'm going to set _you_ on fire!"

Mary looked at Lily, alarmed. Dorcas raised her hands in the air and gave the other two a look that clearly said, _all yours_. Lily sighed, gesturing to Mary, and they walked together toward the volatile dove.

Involved as she was in her dispute with the door, Marlene didn't notice the pair until they spoke from perhaps three steps away.

"Marlene," Mary started.

The girl swung around, startled, wand raised to strike. Mary stumbled back with a yelp and Lily stepped into Marlene's visual field with a calming gesture. "Marlene, Marlene, it's us! Put your wand down!"

At the sight of the redhead, Marlene stowed her wand in her waistband and seemed to wilt suddenly. "I lost, huh?"

"Yeah, honey, you lost. It's Slytherin scarves for both of us, I'm afraid," Lily answered. "And, uh...having some trouble, are we?"

"I can't get in! The riddle is, 'Imagine you're in a dark room. How do you get out?' Nothing I say works! I think it just knows I'm not a Ravenclaw."

Meanwhile, Dorcas had stepped up to the door, seemingly ignoring their conversation.

"Imagine you're in a dark room. How do you get out?" intoned the door.

"Stop imagining," answered Dorcas.

With a quiet click, the double doors swung open.

"I'll kill her," growled Marlene, launching herself at Dorcas, and it was only Lily's arms wrapped tight around her middle that kept the girl from reaching her target.


	6. Chapter 6

**schak:** I'm glad you're liking it so far. I think in terms of your critique, you may like this chapter a bit better. That said, I always felt that Lily's relationship with Petunia would probably make her cling a little too hard to Severus - I think her being a little spineless or hypocritical when it comes to him (at least pre-5th year) is a real character flaw of hers.

 **cara797:** I'm having so much fun writing the doves! And...you may be on to something there ^^

Enjoy Chapter 6! As always, not my characters. Happy Memorial Day to those of you in the US~ See you all again next weekend!

 **Chapter 6**

On Tuesday, Lily raided the general lost and found in the prefects' office and produced two emerald-and-silver scarves to "borrow" for the week. Marlene wore hers tied around her schoolbag and told everyone who asked that she had lost a bet. Lily, on the other hand, opted to make things interesting, and gave every inquirer a different story for the scarf wrapped proudly around her neck. She told Slughorn that green had always been her favorite color (which was true) and that she'd finally got up the confidence to wear it. She regaled her Wednesday-night study group with the tale of her old Aunt Hattie slaving over woolen scarves for both her and Petunia over the summer and, in the end, getting their school colors mixed up. She complained to Leander Lewis about Dorcas using a permanent sticking charm to attach it to her cloak, because, really, Dorcas deserved a bit of ribbing for refusing to join in on the prank. Mary, for her part, was gleeful at her win and often appeared over Lily's shoulder to listen in on her ever more ridiculous explanations.

The stories were all in good fun until Thursday, when Black managed to get her on her own to interrogate her about the newest addition to her wardrobe. Potter had been shooting sideways glares at her all week, but Black was the first to approach her directly about the scarf.

"So it's not enough for you now to deliberately misunderstand James' intentions, now you've got to throw them back in his face?"

"I didn't 'misunderstand his intentions,' I know what he intended to do. I just think he's an arrogant, meddlesome prat for assuming it needed to be done. But what are you talking about, throwing them back in his face? I haven't done anything to Potter."

"Nothing at all. Just, you know, humiliated him. Wearing your greasy boyfriend's clothes. Do you have to parade it around, how much you'd rather join Snivelly in Slytherin? It's pretty clear to the rest of us already, you don't have to try so hard."

"This scarf has nothing to do with Severus, Black. Or with Potter, for that matter."

"Oh, really? What are you wearing it for, then?"

For some reason, Lily couldn't just tell him it was a bet. Of anyone, the Marauders would have understood that reason. Perhaps that was exactly why Lily couldn't use it.

"School unity. I think we should all respect each other, and showing support for other houses seemed like a good way to start. As a prefect, I felt I should set an example. I know the idea of respecting others is lost on you, but I'm hoping it'll get some of the younger students thinking."

"We should all respect Slytherin? What have they ever done to deserve our respect?"

"They shouldn't have to do anything to deserve basic human respect. It's more the fact that they exist, you know what I mean?" Lily looked at him patronizingly.

Black scoffed and turned away as Potter entered the hall, laughing loudly at something Pettigrew had just said to Remus. Black stalked off toward them, throwing a last remark over his shoulder. "Just watch out, Evans. The Slytherins may not appreciate your motives."

Far more surprising than Black's hostility was Emery Dearborn's inexplicable glee. His face lit up and he barely managed to swallow a snigger when he saw her Wednesday morning. He quickly explained it away, citing an argument with the head girl the week before in which he had defended his right to wear whatever color he wanted, even in the leadup to a Quidditch match, but privately Lily thought it might have more to do with the way Potter's expression turned murderous every time he saw her still bedecked in green. Emery seemed as fed up with him as she was, and Lily had to admit that the prospect of dealing with the Marauders' tricks was probably even more exasperating to the head boy than to a mere fifth-year prefect. The more she got to know him, the more she realized that he took his head boy duties to law and order quite seriously.

She was coming to know Emery rather well, in fact, as he kept catching up with her on the stairs for a quick hello or an inquiry about the state of her paperwork. On Saturday morning, he asked her if she might be free to help him deal with some office tasks which had fallen by the wayside recently: there was an epidemic of mumblemumps among the sixth years, and seven of the twenty-four Hogwarts prefects had been confined to the hospital wing by Madam Pomfrey. They agreed to meet in the prefects' office after breakfast.

Lily hadn't been expecting to particularly enjoy a morning spent filing and organizing, but Emery was terribly easy to talk to. Conversation flowed between them as they sorted the mess of papers into stacks, folders, and drawers; certainly his impeccable manners made their interactions smoother, but at the center of his questions and remarks was an unexpectedly deep interest in her life. Lily found herself explaining details she had heretofore shared only with the doves - and that only because they had a tendency to steal her letters from home if she refused to explain when something upset her. Marlene believed the best way to deal with the words of idiots was to make fun of them, so she always pulled out the upsetting parts and twisted them all around until Lily was laughing again. It didn't make everything better, but it stopped her crying at least.

But Emery wasn't Marlene, and he didn't make fun of the stories she told him. How she and her friend - she didn't give him a name - had drifted apart, and how she missed him. How she and her sister used to be thick as thieves, the two of them against the world, until her eleventh birthday, when she'd gotten a particular letter - and Petunia hadn't. How, up to then, it hadn't mattered so much that Petunia was their mother's favorite, because Petunia always scoffed at it and what Petunia did, Lily did... How it had mattered a lot more when Petunia stopped defending Lily and started smiling smugly when their mother asked why she couldn't be more like her older sister.

Emery, as it turned out, had family problems as well. He was sparing with the details - so was she - but his references to family gatherings filled with slights and snide comments on the ways he failed to "fit in" rang true with more memories than she chose to reveal to him. Lily's mother's family was filled with polite, feminine blondes and the good matches they'd made. Most of those matches were company men; some were lawyers; her own professor father was an aberration that she suspected her mother had somewhat regretted. Lily had long suspected that his genes were to blame for separating her from the well-behaved women of her mother's ilk. Lily and her clashes-with-princess-pink locks had been sent to the principal her first day of kindergarten for fighting, and although she'd only hit the boy to make him stop pulling her seatmate's pigtails, her mother's displeasure had been palpable. Her father, on the other hand, had lectured her on the importance of self-control and then bought her an ice lolly.

As she got older, Lily had learned to use her words and not her fists, but her temper had never tamed, and no matter how good her intentions, she would certainly never be the kind of daughter her mother's family expected - the kind Petunia was. Since she'd started at Hogwarts, Lily had heard little from her mother's relatives that wasn't in some way remonstrative. At family gatherings, aunts and cousins would bring out their pretty little girls and throw her mother sympathetic glances for having to deal with such a troublemaker. At weddings in particular, Lily's grandparents would wonder loudly what kind of a boy would ever want to take her in hand. It didn't help that Petunia was currently on her second long-term boyfriend, inviting endless comparisons between them. Lily had been called difficult, pigheaded, and unfeminine more times than she could count.

Then, last year, the unthinkable had happened. She and her mother had had a huge fight in the middle of the Christmas holidays, ending with Lily taking the train to Marlene's and staying for two days until her anger subsided. Upon her return, things were stilted and tense, with Lily hiding in her room and her mother not bothering to lower her voice as she lamented her troublesome daughter. Things went on that way until Lily left to catch the Hogwarts Express with barely a goodbye from Mum. In March, she received a letter telling her not to come home for Easter, as her parents were taking a trip just the two of them, now that Petunia was out of the house at university. She'd spent Easter at Hogwarts, alone, cheering herself with the thought that at least she was getting a head start on all her end-of-year assignments.

She'd found out later that there was no trip. The cancer her mother had beaten just before falling pregnant with Petunia had returned with a vengeance; her mother was undergoing chemotherapy and didn't want Lily home at such a chaotic time. Petunia, on the other hand, moved back in to ferry her back and forth to her appointments. The treatments didn't work. Barely a month later, Professor McGonagall had called Lily into a meeting on a Tuesday morning. She had sat in a tartan-upholstered chair instead of going to Charms, and learned that her mother had died. She hadn't known she was ill. She'd gone home for four days to attend the wake and hear her relatives whisper that the stress must have brought it on, that it was such a shame, that they should have expected it, with a daughter like that-

And, while she didn't tell Emery any of those things, it was nice for once to talk about her family with someone who could sort of sympathize. She said only that she and her mother hadn't gotten along because Petunia had always been her mother's favorite. He didn't ask her to elaborate, but after a beat, he noted that his own family's problems with his parents, and especially with him, had come to a head this summer, and that he understood the feeling of not being valued in spite of doing all the right things - being clever and polite and sociable, getting good grades, receiving the head boy badge.

By lunchtime they had relaxed into a comfortable silence, each working through a steadily dwindling stack of papers. He was checking through the papers from the intro meeting last Saturday. She was wrapping up the duties of Anne Travers, hospital wing occupant: recording point deduction data in the official register. Both of them looked up in surprise at a knock on the door.

"Enter," Emery called.

Marlene, dressed in her Quidditch kit, stuck her head in the door with a sly grin. "Hello, you two. Lily, I was coming to get you for lunch. We had a date, remember?"

"Oh, God! Is that the time? Merlin, Emery, we've been here for hours!"

The older boy chuckled. "True enough. I do appreciate the help. Just leave the papers here; I should be able to finish everything."

"Oh, no, I don't have much left. I'll just take the stack with me and jot everything down, then come back later and copy it all over to the register."

"Well, if you're sure, it would be a help."

"Of course! I've got to run, though, I've kept Marlene waiting. Bye, Emery!"

He raised a hand in salute and she shut the door behind her.

The walk to the Great Hall was filled with significant glances from Marlene, met with nonplussed stares from Lily. In the end, the dark-haired girl rolled her eyes and simply ushered the redhead to their accustomed table, where Mary and Dorcas were already waiting. No sooner had they sat down, however, than Marlene leaned in conspiratorially. "Have I missed something? When did all this happen?" she demanded.

"When did what happen?" asked Lily absently, serving herself some potatoes. The morning's work had left her unexpectedly famished.

"When did Emery Dearborn happen?" Marlene clarified.

"What? Emery Dearborn isn't happening," Lily answered, a little too quickly.

Mary shot her a startled look. "Emery Dearborn is happening? The Emery Dearborn?"

"You went to his party Emery Dearborn? Yes, that one. How many do you think there are, Mare? More importantly, how have you not noticed this going on? You're usually so dependable in that vein."

"Oh, shut up. I've just never heard of Lily liking anyone, certainly not an Emery Dearborn."

"Will you stop talking like that? 'An Emery Dearborn?' There's only one Emery Dearborn!" objected Lily loudly.

"You bet there is," Marlene murmured with a suggestive raise of her eyebrows.

" _And_ ," Lily interrupted peevishly, "'Lily' is sitting right here, and she has liked plenty of people. They just never seem to like her back. But this isn't that. I was just helping him out with some backlogged work. He asked me to do the register for Anne Travers because she's been sick."

"Yeah, she has been, but she's not now," Marlene remarked with a toss of her head towards the girl in question, sitting quite healthily at the Slytherin table.

"Well, hey, if Dearborn's willing to go up against the Potter embargo, more power to him, I say," mused Dorcas. "Though, for the record, I'm in favor of nobody dating anybody, ever. Boys are nothing but trouble, you know, and it's our OWL year."

"It's _September_ of our OWL year, Dorcas honey. If you had your way we'd never have lives at all. We'd have been studying for our OWLs out on the playground as children," Marlene retorted.

"Or in the womb," added Mary.

Dorcas didn't deny it, and Marlene smirked. Lily cleared her throat with a bemused expression.

"Excuse me, the Potter embargo? What am I, Cuba?"

The reference was lost on Marlene and Dorcas, though the corners of Mary's lips twitched upward. Marlene ignored her joke, but answered anyway.

"You know, the Potter embargo. The reason nobody asks you out?"

"There's a reason? A reason besides me and my lack of feminine charm?"

"Uh...yeah. I thought you knew. The boys won't come near you because everyone knows he's interested and nobody wants to get on a Marauder's bad side."

"So, what, he's skulking in disused corridors threatening people who get too close to me? He's told people not to ask me out?" Lily asked disbelievingly.

"Well, no, not in so many words. He doesn't have to. Everyone just sort of...knows. Not to go near you."

Of all the arrogant, entitled- "What the hell! And you're just telling me about this now?"

"Lily!" Dorcas threw her hands up in exasperation. "We thought you knew! Half the school's in love with you - half of the boys, anyway. What other reason could there be for nobody asking you out?"

 _Probably how difficult, pigheaded, and unfeminine I am - not to mention, ginger_ , she thought. But she said nothing.

§ § §

That night in the Dovecote, Lily made a discovery. It was an unpleasant one. In the following weeks, she would almost wish that she had never made it at all.

Paging through the remaining stack of point deduction forms, she'd come upon one that stood out. It was unusual in that it assigned, not just lost points, but detentions. Detentions given by prefects had to be signed off on by a professor, and sure enough, Professor Horace Slughorn's flourish of a signature graced the bottom of the page. But the offense record itself was clearly mistaken. It asserted that, at 7 o'clock on Wednesday, September 11th, Ophian Mansey - a first-year in Slytherin house - had been caught stealing from a Potions storeroom. But that was wrong, because at that time, on that date, Mansey had been floors away from the Potions storeroom, sitting in the Charms study group Lily supervised. She remembered him because he'd joined Ollie and Jack in learning the _conquiro_ charm she'd used on her rounds notebook. Whoever had filled out the slip must have made a mistake with the name. Awkward, but ultimately fixable. She'd caught it before the detentions were set to happen - but only just; the first was scheduled for that night - so she could just go to the prefect in question and sort it all out.

Looking down the form for the prefect's name, Lily's eyes fell instead on _"7. Describe the offense in detail,"_ and she felt a sense of growing unease. _"Student was caught with stolen materials: murtlap essence, neem oil, boomslang skin."_

The same ones Mulciber had procured for Severus.

Mansey was being blamed for Mulciber's crime.

Did Severus know? It wasn't his name on the form, she saw, but a sixth-year's. Eric Yaxley. Not as close to Mulciber as Avery was, but close enough for Lily to be sure her theory was correct. Mulciber must have taken his problem to Yaxley in hopes of an easy solution. Lily wondered if Mulciber had been scared into this course of action, if someone had started putting the pieces together. Or had he just decided to put it to bed before it could become an issue?

Then it occurred to her to wonder something else. Did Mansey know? Might he have agreed to serve as a scapegoat? In any other house, she'd have said no, but in Slytherin… Well, a certain deference to one's elders and betters was almost a law in that house, not to mention a good way to scratch the right backs. It was entirely possible that Mulciber or, indeed, Yaxley had found a willing patsy in a first-year who wanted to get in with the right crowd. Whether he knew or not, though, it would likely cause a lot of trouble for Mansey if he was pardoned of his non-crime. Mulciber would be furious if the theft became an open case again, especially now that it had been brought to Slughorn's attention. Lily had to make this right, though, somehow.

But first, she was going to talk to Severus.

Getting into the Slytherin common room last week had made her bold. Lily felt no fear this time as she stood outside the ornate door, simply waiting for it to open instead of giving the password. She couldn't very well march up to Severus' dormitory and demand answers. Instead, she hoped to convince the next person who opened the door to go and fetch him down.

A couple of minutes later, Lily got what she wanted. Catherine Rosier, the fifth-year prefect who'd observed that Lily's charmed snakes were actually legless lizards, swept into the hallway with an older girl, bookbags over their shoulders, likely on their way to the library. At the sight of Lily, they stopped in surprise. The older girl curled her wine-red lip in a sneer, but Rosier spoke before she could say anything.

"Evans. Prefect duties, is it? Go on ahead, Astrid, I'll catch you up."

"Astrid" - Astrid Rowle, it must be, Lily thought - waited a beat for Rosier to come to her senses. When Rosier nodded again toward the stairs, she arched her eyebrows skeptically before turning on her heel and leaving the pair alone.

"Rosier," Lily said gratefully, "I actually need to speak with Severus - is he in, do you know? Would you get him, if he is?"

"I don't know if he is. I'll check; wait here." She crossed back into the common room.

A few minutes later, she emerged again, shaking her head. "He's not here."

Lily took a moment to consider whether Rosier might be lying, but it wasn't like she had any choice about believing her. "Do you know where he might be? It's rather urgent, I'm afraid."

"What is this about?" Rosier asked with a piercing look. "If he doesn't want to see you, he doesn't want to see you, Evans. You've never had to come here and find him before."

"It's not that," Lily answered, a little unsettled by how much Rosier seemed to know about her and Severus' habits. "There's a problem with a younger student. I was hoping he might be able to help."

Rosier looked thoughtful. "Check in the Potions workroom, or in the library. If he's not out and about with Mulciber and Avery, that's where he'll be."

Lily thanked her and left, checking the workroom first and the library second. Both were devoid of Severus. On her way back down the stairs, however, Lily heard a familiar drawling voice. She turned down a hallway after it. Severus, Mulciber, and Avery were walking away from her down the hallway, voices low and heads bowed, deep in discussion.

"Severus!" Lily's voice rang out too loud in the quiet hallway. Severus whipped round at an almost comical speed, quickly followed by the others.

"Evans!" Avery cried with false cheer. "Fancy meeting you here! And we were just...talking about you." Mulciber guffawed stupidly.

"What is it?" Severus asked, tone harsher than usual, probably to cover the slight embarrassment on his features.

"I need to speak with you"

"Oooh, Severus - she needs to speak with you," Mulciber mocked.

"She looks distressed. Vulnerable, you know. If you play your cards right, you might get some. For saving her. If you like that sort of thing, that is. Personally I'd sooner have a grindylow."

"Severus? Please?" Lily prompted, lips pursed.

"Severus...please…" repeated Mulciber breathily, but Severus was leaving his friends and walking back towards her.

"That's right, Severus, you dog. Go and get some. Everybody's got their kinks." The boys walked off, laughing.

Since no one else was in the hallway, Lily decided they could have their discussion there. She waited for the footsteps of the other two to fade entirely before speaking, jumping right to the point. "Do you know Mulciber's blamed those ingredients on a first-year?"

There was a pause, and then - "Are you certain?" Severus asked. He looked betrayed.

So she told him the whole story of how she had reached this conclusion, starting with the illness of the girl on the roster to go through this week's point forms, ending with the signatures of Eric Yaxley and Professor Slughorn. Anne Travers - the girl - was, she now recalled, another associate of Mulciber's. This plot was Slytherin through and through.

"So yeah, that part is a guess, but an educated one. The odds of having so many Slytherins involved seem too low for this to be a coincidence," she concludes.

"Not necessarily. If you had the choice of asking Longbottom or Fortescue or Spinnet or Bell to sign a form, wouldn't you sooner ask them than someone from another house?"

"Well, I suppose so. Regardless, I'm not looking to get Mulciber in any trouble, much as he deserves it. I don't have any hard evidence. I'm just getting the kid out of detention."

"And you're sure he can't have actually done it."

"He was miles away at the time, in study group with me. I think I would have noticed if he'd gone out to nick stuff in the middle of it."

"He could have nicked it earlier, or later, and they just put the wrong time down on the form."

"Moronic as Yaxley may be, I do think he can read a watch. Or at least cast a time-telling charm."

Severus grunted a concession, but still looked unconvinced.

"Look, you're trying to make sure I'm not sticking my neck out for no reason, and I appreciate your concern, but it's unwarranted. I'm not going after Mulciber, because I can't prove anything, but I _can_ prove that Mansey wasn't stealing anything at the time that form says he was, so I'm going to do that."

"I can't believe Mulciber did this. The bastard."

"I know, but it's okay, the detention hasn't started yet. I'm on my way to sort it out with Slughorn. You can come if you like," she added, more relieved than she was willing to admit that he really hadn't known about it, that he was as angry with Mulciber as she was.

"Why would I come? I don't know anything about it."

"Not for that, just for, you know, moral support? Another voice? Actually," she said, a thought striking her suddenly, "you do know something about it. You came by on Wednesday to drop off the attendance list, remember? You and Vance were on duty and she realized I'd forgotten it. Didn't you see Mansey?"

"I wasn't paying attention."

"No but he even talked to you, remember? Something about the Potions study group for next week. Merlin, that child goes to a lot of study groups…"

But Severus was shaking his head, a carefully blank expression on his face. "I don't recall seeing him on Wednesday, no."

"Of course you did. He asked you where the meeting would be, and you spent ten minutes trying to explain it - remember?"

"Lily, for Merlin's sake!" Severus snapped at last. "Why can't you leave it alone? It's nothing to do with you!"

Taken aback by his anger, Lily blinked, then spoke slowly and deliberately. "He was in my study group, and he's being blamed for something I know for certain he didn't do, because of something I know a whole lot more about than he does. How can I leave it alone?"

"Lily, you can't tell Slughorn. He hadn't even noticed the ingredients were gone before this; if you tell him, Mulciber'll be caught for sure. And I'll be for it, too."

Lily stared at Severus in disbelief. "Let me get this straight: you didn't know Mulciber did it, and you're angry with him for doing it, but now you don't want to undo it? You want the poor kid to sit through detention and get a mark on his record for something you did?" Her eyes narrowed, she glared at him as she waited for his answer.

"I didn't do it, Antony did," he retorted. "It's not my mess. That said, I sure as hell could have cleaned it up better than he did. I can't believe he went behind my back. He still doesn't trust me. Everything I've done for him since Christmas, and he still doesn't trust me." He was speaking low and quickly now, eyes somewhere to Lily's left, as if he'd forgotten she was even there. She interrupted him impatiently.

"Does it matter if he trusts you? He's a git. I thought you said you weren't trying to get in with him."

"You don't get it, do you? It doesn't matter if he's a git, Lily. That's not what I'm after, here."

Lily looked at him for a long time, considering, before extending him a last chance. "Come and see Slughorn with me, Severus. Help me sort this out."

"Bleeding heart Gryffindors. The worst kind. At least Potter punches you and has done with it. You'd never see him trying to lay a guilt trip." Lily started to object, but he held up a hand. "Lily, people get detention all the time. Mansey will be fine. It's not that big of a deal."

On top of the insult, the sarcasm, and the absolute selfishness, he rolled his eyes as he spoke, heaving a sigh thick with derision - and that was Lily's last straw. "If it's really not a big deal, I reckon I should go ahead and tell Slughorn it was you. People get detention all the time, after all, and I'm sure _Mulciber_ would be dead pleased with your loyalty."

She spat the last word at him in disgust, shoved the form at the center of it all bag into her schoolbag, hiked the bag back up on her shoulder. As she adjusted her things, Snape sneered a reply, but she barely heard it. Lily was done talking. Setting her jaw and squaring her shoulders defiantly, she pushed past him, strode swiftly down the hallway, and was gone without a backward glance.


	7. Chapter 7

A rather shorter update than we've been having. This chapter was meant to go on for a few more scenes, but the second half just keeps getting longer, so I decided to break it up and get an update out this weekend with a solid ending place. I hope you're not too disappointed! Next update next weekend as always.

 **iKloudz** & **schak** : Good to hear from you again! I'm not sure I can say too much without spoiling things, but I'm glad you're still reading and reviewing. I always find it satisfying to see Lily stand up to Snape, but I hope I'm writing it in a way that's realistic (and realistically...imperfect, shall we say?) as well as satisfying. iKloudz, no Emery in this chapter, but I too look forward to his return soon!

 **Chapter 7**

As determined as Lily was to get Mansey out of his unjust detentions, mere determination wasn't going to be enough. Nobody ever got anything just because they wanted it - even if they _could_ do magic. So it was that Lily came to be sitting in the library, mulling over different approaches to her current conundrum, when a voice startled her from her thoughts.

"Did you find him?"

Lily looked up, surprised to see Rosier standing a polite distance away. "I did. He wasn't much use, but I did find him. Thanks for the help."

The other girl inclined her head briefly, started to turn away, then seemed to think better of it. "You said it was about a younger student. Can I assist in any way?"

Lily hesitated. "I don't know how much you could help - or how much I can tell you, to be honest."

"I understand. Although, as a prefect, you know I am duty-bound to help students of any house."

"Oh, no, it's not that," Lily insisted. "And besides, it's actually a Slytherin who's in trouble."

Lily saw the briefest flicker of surprise widen Rosier's eyes, but a moment later it was gone, so quickly that she could almost have imagined it. "If you change your mind, do let me know."

Lily weighed her options quickly as she watched the girl's retreating back. She didn't know Rosier at all, but she was a prefect, wasn't she? Then again, so was Yaxley, and that did nothing to recommend him to her. But she only had until dinner to sort out Mansey's situation. He was to report to Slughorn right after dinner. She wondered if he even knew that he was to go, or if Slughorn would be tracking him down and springing it on him like a terrible surprise party.

And, really, why shouldn't she see what Rosier could contribute? She wasn't getting anywhere on her own. She probably wouldn't have to tell her the whole story, or bring Severus into it at all. The thought of getting her friend ( _ex-friend_ , corrected a voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Marlene) in trouble made her uncomfortable, even if he was being a terrible excuse for a human being - and especially for a prefect - in this case. _But,_ broke in head-Marlene again, _it's not like you owe Severus anything anyway. He made this mess and he clearly has no desire to help you clean it up, so you can use whatever...cleaning supplies… you see fit._

 _You really took that metaphor a step too far, there. Get some sleep, Marlene,_ Lily thought back. But at the same time, she'd made her decision and risen from the table to chase after Rosier.

The other girl was swift and nearly to the library's wide doors before Lily caught up with her. Off to her right, Madam Pince was glaring at all the rapid movement and the threat it posed to her library's silence. "Rosier," she called in a loud whisper, mindful of the librarian's preference for quietude. "If your offer stands, I could use some help."

"Of course. Shall we discuss it at your table?"

They walked back together. Rosier cast a silencing charm around them as she sat, and then prompted, "What's all this about?"

"Ophian Mansey, the first-year. He's got detention, starting tonight, for stealing from Slughorn's stores. I know he didn't do it, and I know who did, but I can only prove that it wasn't him. He was in a study group with me at the time."

"The straightforward solution would be to go to the professor who signed off on the detention."

"Yes, but he's bound to ask who actually stole the stores, then. And I've no proof."

"Why not tell him your suspicions?"

Lily paused for a moment, considering how much to tell Rosier. Surely everyone knew what sort of a person Mulciber was? That much could be shared without doing any harm. "It was Mulciber who took them."

Rosier nodded slowly. "And you're afraid of retribution."

"No!" Lily burst out, dismayed. "If it were just that, I would tell. I can handle Mulciber." Rosier looked dubious, but said nothing, so Lily continued, thinking as she spoke. "Look, everyone knows what kind of a thug Mulciber is, but he's still doing it. He's hard to pin down. If I go to Slughorn without any proof, I'm afraid it won't do anything. I need a plan that takes care of both of them at once - Mansey and Mulciber both."

Rosier was quiet for a moment, calculations evidently spinning behind her serene expression. Then, "May I ask you to leave this with me?" she inquired.

"What are you planning?" Lily responded.

"I would rather not tell you until it's done, if you don't mind. But I would ask you to go to Professor Slughorn right away and tell him this: Questions have arisen regarding Mansey's theft. The prefects are investigating whether there may be others involved. We're holding a meeting tomorrow to discuss our findings and are holding off on all connected punishments until then, so don't expect Mansey to report for detention tonight. And tell him you'll update him tomorrow or as soon as anything changes."

Lily nodded her understanding and grabbed her things to leave. Just before picking up her bag, she addressed Rosier again. "Rosier, there's one more thing."

"I'll explain everything, of course, as soon as I'm done. I won't leave you wondering."

"Thanks, but that's not what I was going to say. It's just - well - I don't mean to tell you your business, but I'm worried what might happen to Mansey if we clear his name. If Mulciber ends up getting in trouble, or if he's got some kind of deal with Mansey, or some kind of leverage - I just don't want to make things worse for him by trying to help."

Rosier looked at her for a long time. Then she blinked, smiled softly, and left.

§ § §

Lily headed straight for Slughorn's office, stopping once along the way to avoid crossing paths with Sirius Black, who was coming in the other direction with a face like thunder. The past couple of weeks he had seemed perpetually angry. She was accustomed to seeing him with a cocky grin, eyes ever sparkling, always ready for the next trick. Now he was prickly, defensive, his temper quick to flash. He'd fought with her (typical), Severus (more than typical), and even - late at night when she'd overheard them through the dormitory door - James (not at all typical). Something was bothering him, and it was bound to start affecting the entire school before long.

She caught Slughorn on his way out the door. With a carefully solemn face, she asked him for a word and he ushered her inside.

Checking the hall for eavesdroppers in a way that Lily privately thought betrayed a bit of paranoia, the professor clicked the door shut and charmed the little indicator outside to "Do not disturb." He'd told her once that he hated the intrusive sound of knocking, and had been gifted the clever little device by a former student - a muggleborn whose parents ran a hotel. Apparently her knocks had startled him into yelling one too many times. Now all students were instructed to enter when the indicator read "Enter," without knocking. "Do not disturb" was self-explanatory, and "Out" meant he was unlikely to be found, while the far commoner "Dining" invited one to seek him out in the Great Hall. Few were ever quite brave - or determined - enough to actually walk up to the teachers' table and address him, though.

Once they were settled, Lily repeated Rosier's message, adding a touch of anger for believability. All the actor interviews she'd ever read in Petunia's glossy magazines said acting was all about drawing on real emotion and bending it to a purpose. Well, she certainly had plenty of anger to go around. Explaining the situation to Rosier had made it all far more real, and her anger with Severus now simmered just below the surface. Perhaps she'd drawn the curtain back just far enough, because Slughorn was immediately supportive, offering to assist the plan to "catch the blighters" in any way he could. As Severus had predicted, he hadn't noticed the theft until Yaxley had presented him with the form to sign, but now that he knew, he was livid. The next person to break into one of his cabinets would have a nasty surprise in store, Lily suspected.

After assuring Slughorn that the prefects had it well in hand - and reminding him not to say anything to anyone in case it jeopardized their investigation - Lily excused herself and headed to dinner. Not wanting to raise anyone's suspicions by walking into the Great Hall seconds before the professor, she took the long way round by the Hufflepuff hallway and climbed a wide stone stair that came up into the Entrance Hall opposite the Great Hall doors.

She'd just reached the main floor when she heard raised voices. Stepping through the stone archway that separated the Hufflepuff- and kitchen-side stairs from the entryway, she saw the source of the disturbance. To her left and across the room, Severus stood in a clear space, backed by a semicircle of Slytherins - Avery, Mulciber, Yaxley, Catherine Rosier's younger brother Evan, and several more whose faces were turned from her. Across from him stood - who else? - Sirius Black. For once Potter wasn't with him. Nor were Pettigrew or Remus. Behind Black stretched at least fifteen feet of empty flagstones that yielded ultimately to a loose array of apprehensive-looking Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs.

Black didn't seem overly concerned with the lack of backup. His posture was casual, his tone nearly blasé, but even from across the room she could see the same fire in his eyes that had been there when she'd hidden from him earlier.

"Doesn't it bother you," he was saying, "hiding behind a girl? I knew you lot were cowards, but I still would have thought that beneath you. Guess I'll need to lower my expectations, again."

Lily stepped back around the corner, out of sight of the assembled students. She peered through a slit in the wall to see Mulciber take an angry step forward.

"We hide behind no one," he retorted, "certainly no mudblood."

Severus glanced over his shoulder at him, but said nothing.

"Maybe you don't," Black called, leaning around Severus to catch Mulciber's eye, "but this one sure does. Don't you, Snivellus? You meet in cupboards and dark corridors and make sure she's still on your side so that when you do something stupid like you did this morning, James stops me from cursing you into oblivion."

Severus froze. Lily, too, was stunned. He knew? How? At times she had thought that the Marauders knew far too much about what went on in the castle, but this was on another level. No one knew about her meetings with Severus, not even her roommates. Could it just be a lucky guess, based on their awkward run-in with Potter last week? Or did they really know more than they let on?

While she was thinking, Severus had recovered himself, his lapse in control lasting, as ever, no more than a moment. "I don't know what you're talking about, Black."

"Of course not. Plausible deniability. But I reckon it was one of your experimental curses we found hanging Pete from the ceiling, and that makes it your fault."

The students arrayed behind Snape snickered, but his face betrayed no emotion. "I heard Pettigrew wasn't certain who attacked him."

"Didn't see 'em," Black shrugged. "Doesn't mean we aren't certain."

"Far be it from you to be uncertain that I, personally, am the cause of all your woes."

"And I'd like to be the cause of a lot more of yours, but James has his limits."

"Kind of you to respect them. Or should I say, obey them? Potter keeps you on a pretty short leash, doesn't he, Black?" Severus taunted.

The Gryffindor bristled but leaned back cavalierly, chin jutting out. "I'm no one's dog, Snape, and I'm done being nice. Girlfriend or no girlfriend, come after me or my friends again and I'll come after you. That's a promise."

Severus made no reply. Avery's eyes were burning into Black, but he seemed not to notice. Instead he grinned, eyes glittering darkly, and saluted Severus sarcastically before turning on his heel and striding into the Great Hall where dinner was about to begin. Avery watched him go, expression furious, then joined Mulciber in what looked like an interrogation of Severus. Lily, keen to avoid being found eavesdropping - although it hadn't been a particularly private conversation; Black had clearly intended for the whole school to hear - dashed up the steps and around to another stairwell. She'd get one of the doves to bring her something from the kitchens later; right now, she just needed to get out of sight.

§ § §

An hour later, Mary, Marlene, and Dorcas filed into the Dovecote. Mary was carrying an apple and two roast beef sandwiches wrapped in a napkin. Lily took these, thanking her, and settled in for the inevitable interrogation.

"You heard what happened, then?" Mary asked.

"I came in in the middle, but I heard the important parts. You?"

"Every word, except for Dorcas here, who was rudely studying at the dinner table instead." Marlene rolled her eyes.

"I still heard it, I was just multitasking," replied Dorcas.

"Lovely. So I'm currently the only thing keeping us out of an all-out house war?"

"More or less. Although, going back to the Closet Incident" - as the doves had taken to calling her encounter with Potter and Severus - "I think you're also the cause of the house war. Regular Helen of Troy, you are," Marlene remarked, shaking her head.

"So what do I do?"

"Why do you have to do anything? It's just Snape, and he's a git-" Marlene glanced at Lily, clearly expecting an argument, but Lily wasn't in the mood to defend him.

"Yeah, moreso today than usual," she sighed. "Go on."

Marlene raised an eyebrow. "Putting a pin in that for later. Anyway, it's just Snape and Black and Potter. What do you care if they have a spat? What do you care if they bloody do each other in? I mean we'd lose our star Chaser and a damn good Beater, so I would care, but I can probably put a lid on that in the name of Snape-bashing."

"And it's not like the whole school didn't hear that. I don't think you even have any prefect duties here. You don't need to report what everyone already knows. If you really feel that bad about it, I'll talk to Frank tomorrow and make double sure the prefects are informed. But you don't have to do anything. Just stay out of it and let them blow each other up," Dorcas advised.

Mary was silent. Of the four of them, Mary and Lily were always the reticent ones - the ones Dorcas called "nice" and Marlene called "doormats." But Lily knew Mary would see her side. A prefect couldn't just ignore something like this. It wasn't about defending Severus, she told herself. A prefect had to maintain some semblance of order, whether the people involved were old friends or selfish gits - or, in this case, both. So it didn't matter that it was about Severus, it just mattered that there was a battle brewing and she had to-

"I agree, hang them all. Let's go get some firewhiskey from that one seventh-year. You know the one. After the way this term has started, I could do with a drink."

Lily stared at Mary in shock.

Marlene, meanwhile, cheered. "Excellent! No early practice tomorrow, Ravenclaw's booked the pitch. Let's party!"

And so they did. Through the combination of booze, several games of exploding snap, and a lot of talking, Lily had very nearly forgotten about the events of the day by the time she crawled into bed in the wee hours of the next morning. They, however, had not forgotten about her.

She had no sooner closed her hangings than they were nudged open again, and a stripe of moonlight fell across her face from the open window. Through the gap fluttered a paper dove which, upon reaching its intended recipient, glided gently downward to rest on the bed, then unfolded itself to form a rectangle. Elegant handwriting formed two perfectly straight lines across the page, followed by a precise signature.

 _Everything is settled. I request the pleasure of your company for dinner tomorrow. I'll explain it all then. Meet at the entrance to the kitchens, 9pm. ~C. R._


	8. Chapter 8

**iKloudz:** Good luck with your exams! And yes, I wish all my professors had had a sign like Slughorn's. I always loved Mrs. Weasley's clock and now I just want to put little locator charms everyone in the Potterverse ^^

Not mine, never will be, etc, etc. Enjoy, see you next week!

 **Chapter 8**

Sunday morning found Lily and Dorcas studying for their first Ancient Runes exam, and Mary and Marlene not studying for their first Divination one. Instead, the girls woke up late and breakfasted in their pajamas, unwilling to break the lazy mood that last night's drinks and this morning's lie-in had produced.

The two girls had been friends for years, far longer than either of them had been attending Hogwarts. They'd met at a family function of Marlene's when they were seven: as a pureblood, Marlene was related in some way to pretty much everyone in the wizarding community, meaning her parents received invitations to all the big events through some cousin or other. She'd begged off most of them in those days, staying home with her brothers or one of their many cousins, but this one was different. This one took place at a Quidditch match - Puddlemere United vs. the Holyhead Harpies - and Quidditch-mad Marlene had voted to attend. After a particularly tense bit of Quaffle handling, the Holyhead Chaser had finally whipped around the other team's Keeper to slam ten points through the leftmost hoop. In her excitement, Marlene had started jumping up and down, hugging the nearest person to her - a little blonde girl with ringlet curls who'd been passing quite coincidentally on the nearby stairs. By the time she let go, Mary had been quite out of breath with all the squeezing, but had managed a strangled, "Harpies fan, then?" As the adults around them chuckled, the two girls smiled at each other. Marlene's father invited Mary's family to join the lunch which was about to be served in their box, and the rest, as they say, is history.

But now, between Marlene's Quidditch practices and Mary's busy social life, the girls had hardly had a shared free moment since term started. Even before September 1st, summer training had been keeping Marlene busy, which was why she'd had to miss Emery Dearborn's yearly bash. Mary, though, had gone with her cousin Lacey, who was a friend of a friend of Emery's family, and now Marlene was keen to hear whatever gossip Mary had held back in front of their other friends. All four of them were close, but Mary could be shy, and just like anyone else she had a closest friend she trusted above all others.

That didn't mean she was going to make it easy, though. Marlene pondered strategy over her ham and eggs and eventually decided on an indirect route.

An opportune moment presented itself when Emery appeared in the Great Hall from the direction of the dungeons. Marlene waited until Mary's eyes were on him, then spoke jocularly.

"So, Lily and Emery, eh? She says nothing's happening but I've never seen her spend this much time with a bloke without hexing him." She thought for a moment before continuing, "Nor him, with a girl, come to that."

"He's got plenty of girlfriends. Our very own Winifred Vane, for one. Aurelia Fudge, Victoria Malkin. That one Hufflepuff who was hanging all over him back in February."

"Those aren't girlfriends, they're just girl friends," Marlene corrected with a pointed separation between the two words. "They may hang all over him but he doesn't hang back. Being in that family would get you a fair amount of the wrong sort of attention. He's always got people around, but I've never heard of him reciprocating anything romantic."

"Until now."

"Until now. And that's not reciprocation, it's full-on initiation."

"Which Lily still isn't acknowledging."

"Not at all."

Mary sighed in exasperation. "If she doesn't catch on soon I'm asking him out myself. On her behalf, of course. He's a perfect gentleman but he's really not my type, you know."

"Speaking of your type," Marlene said casually, spotting her opportunity, "and of catching on, what did go down at Dearborn's party?"

Mary's demeanor changed in an instant. With a cagey expression, she answered far too quickly. "Nothing. Nothing of interest."

"Come on, Mary, it's just us. I won't tell Lily and Dorcas if you don't want me to. But something happened."

Mary hesitated for another few long seconds. Then, with an appraising look, she spoke. "Promise you won't tell. It's not that I don't want them to know, exactly, it's just...I haven't worked out how I feel about it yet and I don't want everyone asking me questions."

"Done. Spill."

Mary took a deep breath and set her shoulders, facing Marlene squarely. "I-slept-with-someone," she said in a rush.

Marlene nearly dropped her glass of pumpkin juice. And she _did_ drop her slice of toast, which fell, butter-side-down, to the flagstone floor. She spent a few moments looking, rather comically, from Mary to the toast to Mary again, seemingly at a loss for words.

The moments lasted rather longer than was comfortable.

Mary broke her gaze and reached for another slice of toast, scraping butter onto it and offering it to Marlene hopefully. When the other girl didn't take it, Mary shrugged and bit into it herself, washing down the crumbs with a sip of tea.

Finally, Marlene recovered. With an obvious effort, she swallowed down a number of questions that might have made Mary regret her bravery. Instead she settled on, "Who?"

"Well, that's the thing," Mary started.

This time Marlene couldn't contain herself. "What? Who is it? Is he older? Is it a Slytherin? Merlin's beard, did you sleep with Snape?!"

Mary waved her hands for Marlene to be quiet. When she finally managed to stem the flowing tide of questions, Mary answered all of them in three highly unsatisfactory, highly question-inducing words: "I don't know."

Mary had time to prepare and consume an entire egg, bacon and ketchup sandwich in the ensuing silence.

"I'm not judging you. But were you drunk?"

"Honestly, I wasn't. Not that drunk. I only had a couple."

"But you definitely slept with someone."

"Yeah."

"And you definitely don't know who."

"Right."

"So like, 'He was tall, dark, and handsome and I never got his name'?"

"More like, 'I don't know how tall, dark, or handsome he was because I never saw him.'"

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

"So how do you know you slept with someone?"

"Well, I remember waking up in the middle of the night and hearing someone snoring."

"That could've been a dream."

"Could've."

"Or just someone else in the room with you."

"I remember thinking it was Adrian, you remember how he snored when we went camping that one time?"

"Ew, Adrian." Marlene wrinkled her nose in melodramatic disgust. Adrian was Marlene's ex. One of the Marauders' end-of-year pranks had revealed him and a younger girl snogging at the top of the Astronomy Tower as he stood Marlene up for a date. Their relationship had lasted mere minutes after that. It'd been all Lily could do to stop Marlene from levitating Adrian back up the Tower and petrifying him there "to be eaten by birds" - or, as Mary had suggested, just throwing him over the edge. "I really hope it wasn't Adrian."

"No, I don't think it was."

"To be honest, Mare, that's not very much proof… It really could have just been someone else sleeping in the same room, you know how it is at those parties."

"No, I know. I have more."

"Alright, go."

"I woke up naked."

"Naked?"

"Well, with a shirt on."

"A shirt?"

"A boy's shirt."

"A boy's shirt?!"

"Marlene! Is there an echo in here?!"

"Sorry." Contritely, Marlene closed her mouth for all of a few seconds before launching back into her interrogation. "You could've got drunk, got hot, and taken all your clothes off. People do that. Sirius does that, I found out this summer when we were meeting up for Quidditch training. Still doesn't mean you slept with anyone."

"Yeah, but there's one more thing."

"Alright."

"This was on the nightstand."

Mary reached into a concealed pocket in her bag and pulled out a silvery box, rather like a pill box. Moving to sit next to Marlene, she held it under the table and opened it. It was full of…

...Muggle condoms.

"Oh. _Oh._ You really did sleep with someone."

"Yeah."

Mary was looking down at the box, but she sneaked a glance at Marlene through the blonde curls that had fallen over her face. To her relief, the other girl didn't look too shocked. Stunned, maybe. Curious, definitely. But not upset, not disgusted. Then, as she watched, Marlene's expression turned to something much more ominous than any of those.

Determination.

"Mare? We're gonna solve the mystery."

Great.

Lily and Dorcas' heads were also full of mysteries. Smaller, and yet greater, mysteries.

"Why do there have to be so bloody many runes?"

"Why can úr make five different sounds?"

"Why is there a letter named 'ulcer?'"

"Maybe they got a lot of ulcers," Dorcas suggested, banging her head softly on the table. "I'd have ulcers if I had to go around using runes all the time."

"Can we all collectively agree to quit using runes when we grow up?"

"I mean, I'm in, but I'm not sure how much luck you'll have with everybody else."

"I don't mind the warding runes, I'm just not sure why every contract has to be written in a dead language. Can't we all just use English?"

"Are you forgetting the Treaty of 1172?"

"Trust me, I am not forgetting the Treaty of 1172. After how bloody long we spent studying it, I don't think I could forget the bloody Treaty of 1172 even if I got amnesia. But, in case you hadn't noticed, there's nobody left in wizard Britain speaking anything other than English. So a treaty compromise based on preventing contract jurisdiction disputes by using a language equally unfamiliar to everybody…no longer seems pertinent."

"That's where you're wrong, though. We do still have families that don't speak English," Doe corrected.

"We do?" Lily was floored. "Are they all bilingual? I've never met anyone at Hogwarts who didn't speak English."

"They're not at Hogwarts, most of them. Since Hogwarts teaches in English, anyone who attends is at least bilingual. The Rosiers are in that boat, incidentally. But if you're passionate about keeping up the old languages, you usually homeschool. Like the Shafiqs, for example."

"The Shafiqs? Never heard of them."

"Oh. Well that's not a huge surprise, they mostly keep to themselves. They've had a few good scholars over the years, though, so there are some people who've heard of them. There are other families, but you'd be better off asking Marlene. My family was never much for socializing so I hardly know anybody. The ones that speak Gaelic or, Merlin, Celtic - they're really under the radar. I know I've heard of more who speak French, though."

"The Dearborns used to. Or, should I say, the Daubernons." Emery chuckled as the girls looked up at him in surprise. "I know, I'm terribly stealthy. I've been here for a couple of minutes, actually, but you were rather occupied, and I do so hate to interrupt the edification of the muggleborn masses."

A tinge of color rose in Lily's cheeks, but she fought through the slight embarrassment at being caught in a moment of ignorance. "Do you still speak French, then, Emery?"

"We do, but not like the Rosiers. We learn it from tutors now. I know it well enough to teach you, though, if you're ever interested. Listen, Lily, I was just on my way to lunch when I heard you here. I don't suppose you'd like to walk down together?"

"Sure, why not? Dorcas, are you ready to go?"

Dorcas nodded her agreement as she covered a frown. Things were taking a turn and, unless she was very much mistaken, she was about to lose a bet. "Let's go."

Emery chose to sit with them at the Gryffindor table, instead of guiding the girls to his own house's blue-and-bronze-appointed one. As a result, they were soon joined by Mary and Marlene, still wearing their pajamas, still nursing this morning's mugs of tea, not having left the table since sitting down to breakfast. Potter and the other Marauders showed up as well, taking seats a few feet away. Potter glanced in their direction and immediately looked away, scowling darkly. Emery showed a good amount of sense, Dorcas thought, in the extra half-second he spent watching the Quidditch captain glare into his pumpkin juice. At least he seemed to be conscious of the risk he was taking by getting close to Lily. Not that she thought that would protect him from Potter's wrath - but, as they say, forewarned is forearmed.

The remainder of the lunch did even more to improve her opinion of the head boy. He was as gallant to her, Mary, and Marlene as he was to Lily, and paid meticulously equal attention to them all, never making anyone feel the third (or fourth or fifth) wheel. Of course, that could have been a calculated move, as it would have been clear to any observer that Lily still was not acknowledging his interest in her. Perhaps he was trying to avoid pressuring the girl. It could even be that he was uncertain how she would react to his interest. Whatever the reason, he was proceeding with caution; and that, Dorcas could respect.

It was for that reason that, when the pudding was served, Dorcas did something entirely out of character. Catching Marlene's eye pointedly, she announced, "You know, I've been having some terrible trouble with Defense lately" - Defense was, truthfully, her worst subject, and it was Marlene's best - "and I don't feel much like pudding. Would you mind running through Chapter 3 with me before practice?"

Marlene's eyes widened in surprise and only a well-timed kick from Mary kept her from voicing her thoughts aloud. "I could use some practice, too. Let's go, Mar, we can find a space outside. It's so lovely out today."

As Mary led her away after Dorcas, Marlene could be heard objecting plaintively. "Mary, breakfast in pajamas is one thing. Even lunch in pajamas. But wandering the grounds? My pants have got little kissing hearts on, look - they're really not for public consumption-"

And then they were gone.

Lily filed her confusion away for later and turned back to the table, blushing - why did she keep doing that? - when she found Emery's eyes on her. He smiled, offering her a slice of blackberry tart topped with a peak of whipped cream. She took the plate and began to eat, glad for the excuse not to carry the conversation. As it turned out, she didn't need an excuse - Emery took up the mantle as deftly as ever.

"We never did go back to your discussion with Dorcas. Would you like to hear more about the treaty?"

"I would. Well, perhaps not about the treaty - I think I've heard enough about it from Binns to last a lifetime - but about the families? The ones that are still around now?"

"Doubtless a much more interesting subject."

And so passed the remainder of the afternoon. The few moments' silence immediately following the other girls' departure would prove to be the last for quite some time. Just as it had the previous day, conversation came easily to the pair. Lily was a keen student of any element of wizarding culture she could get her hands on, and Emery was an indulgent teacher. No question was too small or too silly to merit his thorough explanation. As the lunch was cleared and the last few stragglers passed them on their way out of the Great Hall, it was observed by a number of seventh-years that this was the most Emery had ever talked to a girl in all their years at Hogwarts. Certainly something must be happening between them.

Eventually, Emery excused himself to prepare for a History of Magic study group he supervised on Sundays. Lily, mindful of the promised dinner with Rosier and of the probability that the other doves would ask entirely too many questions the next time she saw them, decided to use the last of the day's sunlight to finish up her homework down by the lake. There she stayed, relishing the rare tranquility, until a quarter to nine, when she left the nearly-fallen night behind and entered the castle by the courtyard door, which opened on the kitchen hallway. Finding no one to block her path, Lily made her way, first to the kitchens, and then to her favored table. Later, she reflected that she should have been more surprised to find Rosier there waiting for her. At the time, she simply accepted it as well-suited to the Slytherin girl's mysterious charm, and slid onto the tall stool opposite her.

"Good evening, Evans. I'm so glad you were able to join me," Rosier greeted her.

"Evening, Rosier," she replied grimacing slightly at the uncomfortable formality. "Thanks for inviting me. You said you'd got everything sorted out."

"I do. Typically that would be a topic more suited to after-dinner conversation, but I suppose… Well. We'll forgo the formalities."

"If you don't mind, yes. What did you figure out? Will Mulciber be serving the detention?"

"No."

Lily huffed out a sigh and sat back in frustration. She'd hung all her hopes on this girl, for no real reason beyond a definite aura of "getting things done." If she hadn't come through, things were really in rather worse shape than they had been the previous afternoon when she'd had no plan at all. "I thought you said-"

"There was no way to get Mulciber to serve it himself. From what you said yesterday, I thought you understood that that was too much to ask."

"Then who?"

"Davey Gudgeon."

"So you've just passed the buck."

Rosier gave her a look that said that she was being infuriating. "I would appreciate a chance to explain my choice before you begin tossing out accusations."

Lily bit back a retort and remained silent. After a moment, Rosier continued.

"He's not Mulciber, no, but he's in Mulciber's crew. Has been since last Christmas. When Mulciber wants something that doesn't belong to him, it's Gudgeon who plays lookout while one of the older boys - usually Mulciber or Avery themselves - does the taking. He may not have actually stolen anything, but he's an accomplice. And a willing one, too - nobody pressed him into it, from what I can tell. His family's not lowly enough to make association with a Mulciber irresistible."

She paused, as if waiting for a reaction. Begrudgingly, Lily gave a tiny nod. It wasn't what she'd hoped for, but perhaps what she'd hoped for was impossible. "Did you talk to Slughorn already?"

"No, that's up to you. You're the smoothest talker when it comes to him."

"So what do I say?"

"You say that a mistake was made, and that the real culprit has been found. Yaxley will agree that the boy he stopped was Gudgeon. Gudgeon will agree that he gave a false name, Ophian Mansey, banking on Yaxley not knowing the younger students' faces. Mulciber will be none the wiser until everything is settled, at which point stirring it up again will only bring more suspicion. He won't stick his neck out for a second-year, and Gudgeon won't expect him to. It shouldn't cause too much trouble in their crew - I'm sure they have other hangers-on ready to serve as lookouts. Ultimately, it will be a minor annoyance to Gudgeon, and less than that to Mulciber, but it gets Mansey out of trouble. Is that good enough?"

Rosier looked at Lily in a cool, calculating way, and the Gryffindor had the odd feeling that she was being tested. So she thought hard before answering. What was her duty as a prefect, here? If she prioritized punishing rulebreakers, she would have to push for Mulciber to face the consequences of his actions. But she had no proof, so realistically, that was an impossibility - and, more than that, it was a bad idea, since it was almost certain to bring down Mulciber's wrath on his would-be scapegoat's head. If Rosier was to be believed - and Lily had no reason to think she was not - then Gudgeon was also a rulebreaker, so it was not unjust to punish him, even if he hadn't committed the exact crime he was being charged with. A week's detention - the maximum sentence a prefect could assign - was certainly no more than Gudgeon deserved for several months' worth of playing lookout to a thief. And going after Gudgeon had the additional effect of hopefully preventing any harm to Mansey, which was the whole reason she was doing this in the first place, right?

A memory rose, unbidden, to Lily's mind. She'd been perhaps eight years old and, in the middle of a year filled with demerits and detentions for punching bullies in the face, had announced to her family that she wanted to be a doctor. Her father had taken the opportunity to give her some advice about thinking things through. _"Do you know the first rule of being a doctor, Lily? First do no harm. It means that, before you do anything, first you must be sure that the consequences will not be worse than the situation you are already in. It's important to think through all your options very carefully, and then choose the best one. Do you understand?"_

The words hadn't had quite the effect he had wanted - young Lily tended to evaluate "getting in trouble" as pretty negligible in her cost-benefit analyses, and much preferred dealing with problems herself to getting adults involved - but the conversation had stayed in her mind. First do no harm.

First, get Mansey out of trouble.

Second, punish those responsible.

If the first goal's primacy meant the second goal could only be partially completed, so be it.

"Of course it is. Now," she said, as a plate of something delicious appeared on the table, set down by a diminutive house-elf wearing a violently purple tea towel, "I believe a change of topic is in order."


	9. Chapter 9

**From the author:** I have to apologize for this chapter being late. In the past 3 weeks I've applied to grad school, been accepted (!), registered for classes, and had a crisis-mode week at work because of recent world events. This fic is not abandoned! I promise I will never abandon it; it would drive me crazy to have an unfinished fic posted. Thanks for sticking with me. For now, since my classes start next week, I'm planning an update every other weekend so I can hopefully stick to the schedule.

 **Son of Whitebeard:** Your observation on Chapter 1 is going to be relevant very soon! Also, you and **brongsandbrofoot** , I'm glad you like Rosier. She's by far my favorite OC in this story; I hope I'm doing my idea of her justice. **ReneeMercedes** , thank you! Please enjoy the update! Welcome to new readers, followers, favoriters - every notification email I get from FFN makes my heart smile~

 **Chapter 9**

"There he is, Lily," Mary sang. "Aren't you going to say hi? Hello? Earth to Lily?"

Lily, engrossed in the newspaper her father had sent from home, did not reply. Dorcas, however, raised an eyebrow as Marlene turned in her seat to see the head boy striding in their direction. A few feet away he caught sight of Lily's coppery curls and pulled up short, nodding a polite greeting to the three whose eyes were already on him.

"Good morning, Lily," he greeted the fourth.

"Go away, James," Lily mumbled in reply.

A yelp, a slosh of milky tea and the angelic look on Mary's face betrayed the kick Mary had just aimed at Lily under the table. Lily looked up in confusion, caught sight of Emery, and flushed, backpedaling rapidly.

"Emery! Sorry, I thought you were someone else. Good morning, um… did you sleep well?" Lily chirped, extra cheeriness working hard to cover her embarrassment.

"Quite well, yes. And don't worry, I'm gratified to think that you aren't just this charming to all the boys." His smile did indeed bear a definite touch of self-satisfaction. "Did you happen to finish up all those forms?"

"I've got all the information down; I was going to go at lunch and transfer it into the register. If you don't mind me being in the prefects' office without you, that is."

"Of course not; common practice. Are you sure you've got a handle on it? I realized too late that it was rather a lot of work to put on a first-year prefect… I feel rather terrible for having asked it of you."

"Not at all, it was nothing. Happy to help out. And I'm sure you've got enough on your plate without trying to decipher my handwriting into the bargain."

"I'm sure you have lovely handwriting," Emery protested. He was looking at her levelly, and his gaze on her face was so intense that Lily had to look away, laughing self-consciously. Marlene and Mary exchanged a look across the table, unnoticed by the pair.

The moment was interrupted by a voice hailing Emery from down the table. Philomena Spinnet had leaned back in her seat to look down the long line of Gryffindors at the lone Ravenclaw. "Dearborn," she called, "McGonagall wants a word before breakfast is over. Asked me to let you know when you came in. Said she'd be in her office."

Emery straightened up and bowed slightly to the group. "Best not keep the deputy headmistress waiting. I'll leave you to your breakfast. Have a lovely day, all of you, if I don't see you."

Dorcas smiled politely and Mary waved. Marlene, however, didn't look up from her plate until the head boy was a safe distance away. When she did, her face was contorted with the effort of silencing her giggles. "Well, girls, now we know how a head boy flirts. He compliments the lady's handwriting!"

"Hey," Mary objected, smirking across the table at a still-blushing Lily, "it looks like it worked!"

"I hate you all," Lily retorted, but the effect was ruined by her inability to keep the smile from her face. "He is...rather adorable, isn't he?"

"Entirely adorable," Mary confirmed. Marlene nodded in agreement, and even Doe couldn't bring herself to disagree.

"So you've come round, have you?" came a cocky voice from down the table.

How she could ever have mistaken Emery's elegantly serious tones for this interloper's smirkingly arrogant ones, Lily would never know.

"Come round? I wasn't aware I'd ever been of any other opinion," Lily said loftily, exchanging a superior glance with Dorcas as she carefully avoided saying anything specific.

"I knew you'd eventually realize how you felt about me. It took a while, but we've got there - that's all that matters."

For the sole reason of the good mood Emery's early-morning visit had put her in, Lily held back the myriad biting retorts that occurred to her. Instead she simply made a long-suffering face at the other three girls and ignored him.

Marlene took the cue to restart their conversation. Thinking quickly, she alighted on a topic that might have been better left alone, at least in present company. But shying away from awkward conversations had never been Marlene's way. "So, Lily, Dorcas says you and Snape have had a falling out. Congratulations!"

Lily glared at Dorcas. Dorcas glared at Marlene. Potter stilled like a deer scenting a wolf, all his attention suddenly on the four girls. Mary dropped her head into her hands with a sigh. "What Marlene is trying to say, Lily," she said, voice muffled somewhat by her exasperated posture, "is that we approve of your decision to put yourself first and cut ties with people who aren't good for you. Snape has been going in a bad direction for a while now, and you sticking with him was only going to end in pain."

"For us, and for you, and for him when I was eventually forced to hex him," added Marlene helpfully. "I've been working on my stinging hexes, as Mary can attest."

"And I've been working on obtaining a Venomous Tentacula to set on you in your sleep," muttered Mary.

"You've already got one plant, you don't need more," Dorcas admonished.

"Snarfy isn't mine, he belongs to all of Gryffindor," Mary objected.

"Yes, but whose dorm does he spend the night in when you think he's looking droopy?"

"Maybe you should work on your shield charms instead of enslaving free-spirited plants to do your twisted bidding."

Mary huffed and looked pointedly back to Lily. "So, anyway, ignoring all of that nonsense: We're proud of you for standing up for yourself, and even though we don't really know what happened, we know it must have been hard for you to stand up to him with how long you two have been friends."

"We have been friends for a long time," Lily murmured, brows furrowed.

"Right. And all his other friends are brutes, pardon my frankness, and sooner or later, you were going to get hurt. So we're happy that you left him in the dust. Pardon my additional frankness." Mary glanced at Lily to reassure herself that the other girl was not offended, only to find her gazing toward the Slytherin table with a worried expression.

"I did leave him in the dust," she almost whispered.

As lovely as Marlene, Mary, and Dorcas might be, they weren't her best friends. Severus was.

The girls had ties that criss-crossed all over the wizarding community; even half-blood Mary had lifelong friends like Marlene and her cousin Lacey. They had brothers and sisters, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who were part of this world and had known them their whole lives, family who knew them as children and could still be in their lives now. They had roots.

Lily didn't have that. Her roots in this community were shallow, people she'd known for four of her fifteen years, if that. People who had never gone to a normal school, who had never read a paper with pictures that didn't move, who had skipped right past dreams of someday flying in an airplane and straight to waiting impatiently for the day they would earn their apparition license. Nevermind football, one of her favorite things about the Muggle world. The perennial argument between her and Marlene never seemed to go anywhere, and she wasn't sure why she still bothered having it. It certainly didn't improve her own mood, attempting once every month or two to explain the attraction of a sport where neither the players nor the balls could fly. Flying didn't make things automatically mesmerizing, or they'd all go around gaping at gnats all day. So why did not flying have to make things automatically boring?

Mary could usually be counted on for at least a token defense of Muggle activities, if pressed. But her experiences of them were so different. Mary had never seen Muggle life without a filter, the lens of knowing she was magical. She only ever said it was _fun_ \- she would never try to maintain that it was _important_.

Maybe Severus had turned his back on his Muggle roots, but he, at least, had known her before then. And he was the only one, the only person in the entire wizarding world who'd known her as a child, before she became "Lily Evans, muggleborn." Before she had to be the best at magic to show her mum that going away to school wasn't "a waste of time." Before she had to worry about grades and responsibilities and losing her sister and "we should have expected it, with a daughter like that." Back when she could just be… _Lily_.

Severus' roots didn't run so deep, either. His mother was a witch, but one disgraced by her family. He had no relatives here, no childhood friends besides her. He had fallen in with the wrong crowd, yes - all because of that stupid hat and the stupid artificial divisions it created. Not by his own choice, or at least, not entirely.

Even more important, then, not to abandon him now. She didn't have enough roots to go severing them, and certainly, if _she_ should be somebody else's root… she shouldn't go leaving _them_ behind either.

"Every man deserves a second chance," her father always said.

She had to speak to Severus.

Lily rose from the table with a jolt, ignoring Mary, Marlene, and Dorcas' startled exclamations. She brushed Potter aside with a "would you kindly _move_ " as he blocked her way with a plate of breakfast sausages in hand. _Probably laced with love potion_ , she thought mutinously. Once clear of the table, she crossed the hall toward the Slytherin table, tuning out Black behind her as he stage-whispered, "Ungrateful minx. Some girls just aren't worth the price of the condom, mate."

Past wondering faces among the Ravenclaws, not even sparing a moment to smile at Emery as she walked by, Lily rounded the end of the table and walked back up the aisle along the Slytherin table. Their benches seemed to go on for far longer than her own house's, but at long last she reached her destination.

"Severus," she started.

The reaction to the single word was dramatic. The students sitting on the far side of the table had quieted, eyebrows raised, as she approached, but the louder boys with their backs to her had failed to notice. When she spoke, however, they fell silent immediately, two heads turning in disbelief at her audacity in crossing the great divide to the Slytherin table, a third swivelling in dread at her presence among his friends.

"Look, Snape, it's your girlfriend," noted Avery in delight. "What did I tell you? No girl can resist a snake."

"What are you doing here?" Severus hissed, doing his best to paste a sneer over his discomfort.

"I need to talk to you," Lily answered, carefully keeping her eyes trained on her old friend.

Severus' eyes narrowed. "I have nothing to say to you."

Lily's expression hardened. Was he really going to pretend he was in the right in this argument? That he hadn't simply acted out of cowardice in refusing to do what he knew he should?

"It's about what we discussed on Saturday," she prompted, knowing he would make the connection.

And he did. "You've finished that project, then?" he said with an air of indifference.

"Yes, I have."

He didn't smile, but something in his eyes softened and Lily stifled a sigh of relief. He was still her Severus, still averse to Mulciber's and Avery's self-centered tactics. Still willing to look for a better way. Her friend wasn't entirely lost. She was so glad she'd decided to give him another chance.

She pressed her luck, hoping for a little more. "I'd like to speak with you in the hallway, Severus," she said, and gestured towards the great oaken doors.

But this time, he didn't reply. He wasn't even looking at her. In fact, he seemed to have lost interest in her entirely, all of a sudden.

"Severus?" She stopped herself from waving her hand in front of his face like a child. "Can we talk, in the hallway?"

At length, his black eyes fell on her again, and she swallowed. The slight softness that had been there before was gone now, replaced by narrow eyes, hard lines, tight mouth. Why? Why now? He'd been pleased, she could tell, that she'd found a solution, but - upset that she wanted to include him in it? She could understand wanting some distance given the situation with Mulciber, but usually he was the type who wanted to control every piece of a plan. That was why she'd wanted to tell him, because she'd thought it would make him more comfortable to be included.

"Why are you being like this? Tell me one way or the other - do you just want me to run with it?"

If anything, Severus' eyes grew narrower, and his face began to pale in anger. Were they really going to do this here, in front of everyone? In front of Mulciber? She had rarely seen Severus lose his cool so completely as to offer his enemies - or his friends - that kind of an advantage over him.

"An answer, please, before I go and settle everything with Slughorn," she prodded. Aware of Avery's eyes fixed on her and of Mulciber very close at her elbow, she refrained from approaching him further, but bent slightly in an attempt to catch his nearly apoplectic eye. "Severus? Let's go."

He opened his mouth to reply -

\- and hissed.

Not like a human hisses in anger. Not the sound of frustration or fury or contempt.

The sound of a snake.

Laughter erupted from the Gryffindor table and Lily clasped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide in horror. One laugh rang out louder than the rest, and she recognized Black's smug, smirking, cruel howl - of course. Who else? Severus, meanwhile, was spluttering, face contorted with fury as he fought the spell for control of his voice. Every breath came out as another hiss, with an overall effect so reminiscent of an actual trapped snake that it would have been comical if it weren't so awful. The boy was turning grey, gasping for breath; the spell must have affected, not just the sound of his voice, but his airways, too. Lily could only stand, stunned, as he clutched at his throat, waving his wand impotently, without the words or the breath to cast a counterspell.

Seconds ticked by, but it felt like hours had passed before the sixth-year prefect Travers leaned over from where she had been watching at the end of the table, lifted her wand and cast _finite_. The eyes of the entire Great Hall were on them by then. The Slytherins glared in fury, _Black_ and a few other members of her own house were still chortling with mirth, Potter was grinning in appreciation, and the rest of the hall wore expressions of discomfort to mirror her own.

And all of them watched Severus storm out of the Great Hall, piercing Lily with a look of deepest betrayal as he went.

For a long moment, Lily could only stand, hands forgotten over her open mouth, looking towards the huge door through which he had left. Students turned back to their breakfasts; Black and Potter turned back to their admirers. Business as usual continued around her.

At length, Lily was shaken out of her torpor by the hoots of the first post owls flocking in the windows. A look from Rosier, half exasperated and half insistent, urged her to move, to go after him before things could get worse. By the time the first newspapers were swooping down to their recipients, she was out the door and running for the dungeons.

The workroom where Severus usually went to be alone was empty. He could be in the dorm, but the password she knew had surely expired, and besides, he probably wouldn't want to be around other Slytherins right now. Lily checked all the storerooms in case he was hiding in one of those, but no. There were only minutes left before their first class, and she needed to reach him, to calm him down before he could do anything rash. It wasn't worth it, picking a fight with Black and Potter. They always won, because they never stopped until they had, and because for all their idiocy, they were too brilliant by half. But Severus had looked far too angry to think so rationally…

...and, bloody excellent, they were no longer alone. Mulciber, like Pettigrew, had a free period now, but Avery didn't, which meant they must have come down here looking for Severus, for both were now sauntering down the hallway towards her, delighted looks on their hard faces.

"Evans!" called Avery in mock joy. "What are you doing down here, all alone in the lions' den? Or, should I say, in the snake pit? Chasing after your boyfriend? I hate to break it to you, but I don't think he's interested anymore. Maybe I could - er - step in?"

Lily ignored his the boy's crude remark. "Do you know where he is, Avery? I need to speak with him."

"Yeah, right. So what's the game this time? Not a whole lot of people to jinx him in front of down here."

"I didn't jinx him. That wasn't me."

"You know that, and I know that, but he doesn't, and I'm sure not going to tell him. It's high time for little Snape to grow up and put away his childish toys."

Lily was about to reply when a door opened and Severus' oiliest tone echoed out. "Of course, of course. I'm just glad we were able to get the whole situation sorted out." He stepped out of Slughorn's office, closely followed by Slughorn himself. Once in the hallway, he looked up, gaze falling on Lily. For the briefest of moments, she read hurt and sadness and betrayal there, but in the blink of an eye they were covered with pure loathing. Still, he met her gaze levelly, and said with the barest hint of malice, "It's taken care of."

Slughorn boomed in agreement. "Yes, young Snape here was just telling me of all your investigations into the theft. I must say, it's admirable how deeply you've dug into things. It was important to be quite certain that the young scallywag hadn't roped anyone else into his crimes. I say, the youth of today are just getting worse and worse, aren't they? The very idea of a first year, thieving, I ask you."

"Second year, professor," Lily corrected.

"Second year? No, no, I'm quite certain Mansey is a first year. I'll be seeing him next period, in fact. First thing in the morning every Monday, Gryffindor and Slytherin first years. Quite the way to start the week."

Lily's face fell into confusion. Severus aimed the smallest sneer in her direction. Avery smirked, and Mulciber snorted in appreciation. And Lily's face cleared.

And she would not stand for it.

"I'm sorry, professor, but it seems that Severus is behind the times. Through no fault of his own, I'm sure. Might I have a moment? Severus, do feel free to join. I wouldn't want you to miss out on any more important details."

Over the next ten minutes, Lily explained everything she'd concocted with Rosier - Gudgeon's act and subsequent cover-up, Yaxley's overtrust, everything. She drenched the story in plenty of devotion to the advancement of Potions education, and seasoned it liberally with flattery, knowing Slughorn to be as fond of both as he was of the candied pineapple slices ever-present on his desk. The professor lapped it up, nodding enthusiastically along with the convoluted tale as Severus' rage blackened. When the story was over, he clapped her on the shoulder and praised her intellect and persistence. And when the three of them walked out into the hall, he had but a few words of reproach for Severus: "No harm done, my dear boy, but a word to the wise: reputations are made and broken on the foundations of informedness. Never let it be said that you are behind the times, or you may find yourself relegated from the cutting edge to the back burner."

As Severus swept away toward his accustomed workroom, Avery and Mulciber exchanged a scornful look and sauntered off in the opposite direction, dropping him as clearly as if they had said it aloud.

Fully ten minutes late now, Lily made her way to the Runes classroom and flopped into a seat beside Dorcas. Professor Bailiwick had stepped out to deal with an errant first year, apparently, so she had been able to sneak into the room unaccosted. She let the buzz of chatter in the room wash over her. Some bigwig in the Ministry had announced a leave of absence, apparently, and rumors were flying like owls. But Lily couldn't bring herself to care just now.

Sighing disconsolately, Lily allowed herself a second of self-pity. She was feeling distinctly dropped as well. So much for a second chance. She'd never be able to convince Severus she hadn't been a part of the prank, not when she'd eschewed all their usual safeguards by approaching him directly and in the middle of breakfast. During a particularly nasty spate of pranking back in their third year, Lily had determined never to approach Severus in front of the Marauders, as it seemed to make the attacks worse. She'd broken that rule today, and Severus had been hurt, and he was never going to believe that that hadn't been her intention, not after the falling out they'd had over the weekend, and certainly not after she'd gone on to embarrass him in front of Avery, Mulciber, and his own head of house.

Thinking about it now, though, wasn't that a good thing? In the shadow of the self-doubt that had crept over her at breakfast, she'd thought she owed Severus another chance. "Every man deserves a second chance," she'd thought in her father's voice, forgetting the rest of the saying: "but keep an eye on him." She'd extended an olive branch and he'd turned it into a spear, taking advantage of the information she'd shared to hurt her by lashing out at an innocent first-year. Whatever misunderstanding had sparked his fury was certainly not her fault - and, in fact, his decision to act on mistaken conclusions was yet another reason not to give Severus a third chance. He had turned on her at the slightest provocation. That wasn't something friends did. If she really thought about it, he was no friend of hers.

This was all sounding very familiar.

She'd been through this process before.

She'd been through this exact process two days ago, and a week ago, and over the summer, and last year. She just couldn't leave Severus behind. It was awful; it was like an addiction. He was a git and he didn't deserve her and Dorcas was right and Marlene was apt to curse him at any second if he turned on her again.

Perhaps all she needed was some accountability.

Glancing at Professor Bailiwick, who was droning on about the advent of Younger Futhark just as he had been for the past ten minutes, to make sure he wasn't looking in her direction, Lily pulled out her wand and pointed it at the bottom corner of her notes, which so far read _Ancient Runes, Monday, September_ \- she couldn't remember the date right now. She sliced a square of from the bottom of her parchment, dipped her quill and scrawled, _Dorcas! I'm going to stop being friends with Severus. I need you to help me stick to it._ Then, when Bailiwick turned his back to write something on the blackboard with squeaking chalk, she used her wand to flick the parchment square across the aisle and onto her friend's desk.

Dorcas picked the parchment up, skimming it quickly before giving Lily a look that quite plainly said, "I don't believe you." She turned the parchment over and added something to the back, then flew it back onto Lily's desk.

 _Right. I've heard that one before._

 _No, really,_ Lily added to the front, _I mean it this time. I know I keep dithering, but this time it's for real._

Dorcas read the note, her expression remaining just as disbelieving as the first time. Lily pouted at her friend's lack of faith, although she couldn't say it wasn't justified. She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, trying to think of something she could do to convince Dorcas of her sincerity.

Something landed in her lap, and she picked it up automatically. Evidently Marlene had been spying on their conversation, for the little square bore a line written in a third hand: _Swear it, then. If you really mean it._

Lily glared at Marlene over her shoulder. "Nosy parker," she mouthed; but her friend just smirked before sending a new square of parchment her way. On it, in Marlene's block capitals, was a vow. _I, Lily Evans, being of sound mind, do solemnly swear to give no more chances to Severus Snape. I furthermore empower Marlene McKinnon to hex my hair green if I break this vow, and I do solemnly swear not to change it back until past midnight on the day in question. Signed, _. Countersigned, _. Witnessed, _._

Lily read the text quickly, then whipped her head round to glare at her friend again. "No," she mouthed, shaking her head vigorously.

"Why not?" Marlene replied in a whisper, raising her eyebrows like a gauntlet about to be thrown down. "Planning to give him another chance?"

"No!" Lily hissed.

"Then sign it," she replied.

Lily looked at the parchment.

The parchment looked at Lily.

 _Lily Evans,_ she wrote with a flourish.

She passed it to Dorcas, then to Marlene, who signed it, spelled it immutable, and tucked it into an inside pocket of her robes. And so it was done.

§§§

When one door closes, another one opens, and the door that swung ajar after Lily shut Severus out came as a surprise - if only to Lily.

She found out at lunch that Emery had disappeared after breakfast, ostensibly to speak to Professor McGonagall, and had not returned to classes all day. Mary had it directly from Alice, who had it from Philomena, that he had gone home. No one knew why, but rumors abounded: everything from fires to floods to family illness. Some said the Dearborns had gone suddenly bankrupt, though no one could explain how that might have happened. Lily strongly suspected Black of spreading the wildest rumor, involving a whirlwind affair, a suicide pact, and a foundling. There was no rhyme or reason to the tales, and the girls had concluded by lunchtime that they were all equally false - and that they would have to wait for Emery's return to get the real story.

As it turned out, they didn't have to wait that long. Returning to her room after dinner, Lily was greeted by a pair of glowing eyes and a sharp beak tapping on the window beside her bed. She dropped her books on the bed and hurried over to the window, trying to remember where she knew the owl from as she threw up the sash and let it in. With a superior look in its umber eye, the owl hopped onto her desk and extended a leg - rather condescendingly, she thought - for her to remove her letter. Not wanting to keep the owl waiting, she took the letter, then poured the bird a bowl of water before breaking the rich blue seal on its scroll.

 _Lily,_ the letter began, in what was once again an uncannily familiar script, _I have been meaning to ask you this for quite a while, but never managed to get up the nerve. That changed today. As a Muggleborn, you may not know this, but the official who went on leave today was my father. He's been taken ill, rather seriously so. I have the utmost faith in the healers taking care of him, but I am still forcibly reminded that life is too short not to act. Perhaps you will appreciate that sentiment, as a Gryffindor. I digress - my intention in writing this missive was not to throw inspirational quotes at you, but in fact - to ask you for a date. I believe there is a Hogsmeade weekend planned for next month. After our shared duties guiding the younger students down to the village for their first visit, would you care to join me for lunch in the Three Broomsticks, followed by a turn about the town? I will be staying with my mother for the next several days, until my uncle can be here to support her. I should return to school on Sunday, and hope to hear your answer then. Yours faithfully, Emery._


End file.
